The Upgrade
by Moonlady
Summary: Or maybe 'Sugar Rush: Vanellope's Upgrade'. A more sensible take on the 'Vanellope gets an adult avatar and OMG she and Ralph are suddenly in love' tale. Because I loved it, but I wanted to do something different with it. A character fic. No actual 'plot' per se... Just fooling around with the idea. Rated T for what might happen later on. Ralph/Vanellope in the future.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** I just recently saw Wreck-It Ralph... like, 7 times. I'm totally in love. I really needed something new to fangasm over. It was time. And I just KNEW that I would love Wreck-It Ralph. I love it when that sort of thing comes together.  
So, after skimming the internet briefly I find the Ralph/Vanellope pairing. (Most obvious pairing? _Clearly_, because we on the internet have no age discrimination... even if we're all like 'when she's OLDER!')  
I took to it immediately.

But, as usual, I find the fanfics I found just a little lacking. Most people seem to think their love it dependent on Vanellope getting magically older and then poof! They're attracted to each other.  
I guess I'm just a little more interested in the dynamics of it all and the emotions that people are completely over looking.  
So, if you want something done right... I'm probably not the one to do it. But I just got to try. My apologies if you're waiting for any of my other fanfics to be updated. I'm working on it, but I've already explained about my attention span.

**Disclaimer:** Wreck-It Ralph is owned by Disney. Any cameo appearances by game characters are owned by the creators of those games. I write this merely for the enjoyment of it. I am in no way attempting to associate myself with those people or trying to claim any rights to the original work.

Without further ado...

* * *

**The Upgrade **  
_(The author now apologizes for the lack of a decent title)_

**Part 1: The Prologue**

Everyone was gathered around a table in Game Central listening intently to Clyde as he went on about what he'd heard Mr. Litwak discussing with the games dealer that afternoon.

Today had marked a quarterly for the Arcade. A man from a gaming dealership of some sort came around 4 times a year and he and Mr. Litwak would carefully go over his budget. Which games earned what, which games the games dealer wanted to buy for whatever reason, which ones should be let go, and on a lighter note, which new games the arcade might be getting.

The Pac-Man console was closest to the counter and was in the best position to overhear this conversation. They would've talked to the Pac-Man himself about all of this, but Pac-Man wasn't known for his attention span and wasn't the most reliable to remember all of this information and pay attention to his job at the same time. Also his accent was terribly difficult to understand.

Vanellope, as head of her game, was sitting at the table and trying to listen with all her might, but it was hard. She hadn't been out of her game and in Game Central very many times yet and the surroundings kept attracting her attention. The sleek lines and the absence of candy-striped surfaces was absolutely fascinating. Her attention came back to the meeting when she heard him mention Sugar Rush.

"And since Sugar Rush has been doing really REALLY well he's finally been talked into the upgrade for it. So you can look forward to that being installed pretty soon I think Vanellope." Clyde said.

"An upgrade?" Vanellope asked. "What's that mean?" It certainly sounded exciting. Upgrade was good word to hear for games she was pretty sure.

"Well, I heard some of the hype for it." Clyde offered. "They're expanding the Kart Bakery mini-game, you're getting more tracks, bonus level expansions, and a graphics update that includes new avatars."

"New tracks? New CHARACTERS?! Awesome!" Vanellope exclaimed as she jumped up from her seat.

"N-" Clyde started, trying to get a word in between her whooping. "Well, yes. But I meant that all the current avatars are getting an update too."

That made Vanellope stop.

"What? You... You mean we're all gonna look different?" Vanellope asked. Clyde just nodded.

Vanellope frowned pensively.

The rest of the meeting didn't last long, and Vanellope heard about as much of this part of it as she did the first part. Her attention was no longer on the sprawling Game Central scenery. She now had something completely different to think about.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts?

Just to make it clear, since I might not have in the first author's note, this **WILL** be a Ralph/Vanellope. But an actual relationship is still a long ways off at the moment. It's more of a one-sided thing on Vanellope's part at the moment. And yes, Vanellope is gonna get an older avatar. Overused plot point, blah blah blah...


	2. Chapter 1: Doubts

**A/N:** Lots of good words for this idea were said. Yay. Quick note, Yuni Berth is the name of the blonde DDR gal who cameo'd. Also, I'm just making up all this upgrade stuff as I go. I WANTED to pretend like I knew all about the workings of arcades and stuff... but I'm too lazy to actually research it to make it technically believable. This is why I write fanfiction instead of actual books.  
On with the story.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Doubts**

After the meeting Vanellope went back to Sugar Rush to relay the good news. While none of the citizens seemed to know what to say to all of this, Taffyta really took it rather hard.

"But... what does that mean? They're going to change how we look? Are they going to change my hair? I LOVE my hair, they can't do that!" Taffyta howled. She grabbed at her white/pink hair and started to cry.

Vanellope decided it was sort of nice to have someone like Taffyta around. Now that Taffyta was being so very vocal about the vanity part of the problem Vanellope realized that she didn't need to be.

When she really thought about it, Vanellope didn't think it was the cosmetics of it all that were bothering her. Sure, she was pretty comfortable with how she looked and how she was dressed, but switching that up wasn't the problem. Looks had never meant very much in her opinion. It's just that her whole BODY was going to change. Right down to the coding.

What if they got rid of her glitch? What if they took away what it was that made the players like her so much? What if they gave her new code and she forgot how to drive? What if...

What if they wiped all of the code completely for the upgrade and she forgot about everything that had happened? What if she forgot Ralph?!

That terrifying thought sent her running out of Sugar Rush to find Ralph.

As she ran she gained just a little bit of confidence. She just knew that Ralph would know all about this 'upgrade' business. She was sure of it. He could tell her all about how to go about it and what to do and if it really meant the end of her whole world.

She reflected on Taffyta and all the other people of Sugar Rush. She wondered if any of them had someone outside of game to talk to about this. To be able to talk to someone about all of her fears... that was so special.

+++[Elsewhere...]+++

Felix was catching everyone from Fix-It Felix up on the quarterly report. Nothing significant was happened to them, but it was interesting to gossip about which games made the most money, and who was getting what updates and when.

A few of the Nicelanders mused over what new songs DDR was getting, Mary was keen on the new recipes she thought the bakery game might be getting, and of course there was a buzz about Sugar Rush's huge upgrade.

"That's a bit step. Sugar Rush is old enough that I'm a little surprised that the expansions are still available." Deanna commented.

"Nah, lots of games from the 90's are still getting upgraded. Look at DDR." Someone else commented.

"It's not one of those upgrades that we need to worry about is it?" Ralph asked. "Nothing like an overhaul or anything?"

"Nope." Felix assured. "Standard expansion. But they _are_ getting a graphics card update."

Everyone ooh'd and aah'd over that.

Those were almost unheard of. Usually a game could expect to stay in an arcade for years and years and never get better graphics. Only the real money-makers ever got updated like that. DDR was prime example. It's graphics generally got updated every time Mr. Litwak got the money.

"Sugar Rush must being doing really well for Mr. Litwak to invest in it like that." Ralph said proudly.

Sugar Rush had always been popular, being a sit down racing game like it was, but ever since Vanellope had been reintroduced to the roster it had definitely gotten even more popular. Ralph couldn't be prouder of her.

Just as Ralph finished that thought something came barreling down the track from Game Central Station. The blur curved and zoomed straight for where the Nicelanders were gathered.

Everyone except Ralph scattered out a bit to get out of the way.

Ralph, knowingly, just put his foot out and the blur collided with it. Once stopped Vanellope beamed up at him from her kart.

"Ralph!" Vanellope squealed. She jumped out of her seat and clung to Ralph's neck, hugging him tightly. Ralph hugged her back with a smile.

"So, did you hear about the upgrade?" Vanellope asked as she let go and Ralph lowered her to the ground.

"Sure did, that's pretty big news. Felix was just telling us all about it." Ralph said, gesturing to the Nicelanders who were gathering around again.

"It's... it's gonna be okay though, right?" Vanellope asked, excited but unsure at the same time. "I mean... nothin' weird is gonna happen or anything, right?"

"Weird? Probably not. Lots of games get expansions without anything going wrong." Ralph said, putting a hand on his chin as he thought about it.

"Oh, that's good." Vanellope said quickly. "Because... because when I told everyone in Sugar Rush about the update a whole bunch of people panicked, and Taffyta started pulling her hair, and we... I mean _they_ were all worried about the new graphics n'... all that kinda stuff." She finished lamely, fidgeting with the strings on her hoodie.

There was a short pause where everyone processed what she said. Ralph and Felix both saw through it immediately. Ralph had to try really hard to keep the smile off of his face. Seeing Vanellope looking genuinely worried about something was odd and endearing and suddenly made her 10 times cuter in his eyes.

"I got it!" Felix said with a jump and a chime. "Why don't you go visit DDR?" Felix asked.

"What?" Vanellope asked. Ralph, coming out of his cute induced stupor, understood what Felix was on about.

"That's a great idea." Ralph said. "Yuni would be able to explain all about what goes on during an upgrade like this. They've gone through this a nuch of times. She'll be able to tell you all about it, then you can take that back to everyone at Sugar Rush. How's that sound Vanellope?"

"Perfect!" Vanellope shouted. She bounced up and hugged Ralph again.

"I just knew you'd know what to do about all of this." She said confidently.

Ralph didn't have the heart to remind her it was Felix's idea. He looked down at Felix who just waved it off.

"C'mon, DDR is a ways away. We'll wanna get going if you want to talk to them." Ralph said as he picked Vanellope off of him.

"Nah, we got plenty of time. I brought my kart, remember? It goes five times faster than those silly trains." Vanellope said as she got into the drivers seat.

"It's dangerous to drive this thing through Game Central y'know." Ralph admonished as he sat on the back of the kart.

Vanellope did a grunting impersonation of him.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, lets go." She said quickly as she put it in gear and drove off.

Ralph just rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you guys later!" Ralph shouted as he waved to Felix and the Nicelanders before they zoomed out the exit of Fix-It Felix Jr.

* * *

**A/N:**Kay. There you go. This isn't up to par just yet, admittedly. But it might take me a few chapters to get into the swing of things. I know where I'm going, just... gimmie a few chapters to find the right direction. Anyway... Reviewer Response!

**BoredParanoia: **Yeah, that's really the exact same problem I have with most of the fanfics I see. It just doesn't strike me as... quite the right way to go about it. And lazy on the author's part. It's one of the things I'm bound to fix.  
**Nunyeahbusiness:** It's a good idea... good idea. But my only problem with it is that game characters don't age at all. It's why you need the 'upgrade' plot device at all. So, consider this an acknowledgment, but I can't see myself using it at all. It's just not canonical enough. Thanks for the interest though.


	3. Chapter 2: DDR

**A/N:** Alright, general question for the readers. Would you like longer chapters? Or fast updates? Longer chapters means that you'd get more content per chapter, but you might not get a chapter for a couple of days. Fast updates means I'll definitely update once a day, but the chapters will only be 700-1k words.  
Think about it and let me know in reviews?

* * *

**Chapter 2: DDR**

Ralph... didn't like DDR very much. He was a peaceful sort of guy who didn't care much for loud pop songs that encouraged the type of dancing they did in Dance Dance Revolution. He rather fancied himself as the type of guy who liked Blues, or maybe Smooth Jazz. Not that he listened to music all that often, unless the jukebox that provided background noise at Tapper's counted.

"I should start listening to music more." Ralph resolved mentally. It might be difficult to find anything he'd like to listen to in an arcade, being that most of the music for the games were supposed to be annoying and attention getting, but he meant to attempt it... Whenever he found the time.

The inside of DDR was a very loud dance club. The tiled floor lit up with various blinking colors, there were raised platforms that had even more dancers on them and in the very back there seemed to be a bar of some sort. This was the kind that played songs that had a definite beat to them to encourage the movement of feet. Ralph had to wonder if anyone else had trouble hearing themselves think in there.

It took some effort to get past the self appointed 'bouncer' at the tunnel.

"ExCUSE me! Don't you know who I AM?" Vanellope asked, sounding highly offended.

"Uh..." The bouncer hesitated.

"Only THE Vanellope Von Shweetz, _princess_ of the number one racing game Sugar Rush." Ralph offered helpfully.

"And if we're not let in immediately then I shall be very cross with you sir." Vanellope declared. "And I might have to have my associate get... unpleasant."

Ralph tried to look menacing instead of gormless. By the look on the bouncers face he wasn't really doing a good job.

The bouncer didn't look convinced, but let them through anyway. Probably just so they'd stop bothering him.

They wandered around the game for a bit, or more correctly Ralph stumbled around through people while Vanellope bounced and danced and 'grooved' in a wide circle around him. Finally Ralph spotted Yuni near the back at a table discussing something with a blue haired girl. He carefully made his way over there.

As Ralph made his way over to the back table the two occupants turned their attention to him. He was hard to miss in this crowd.

"He~ey, Wreck-It Ralph." Yuni said cheerfully. Ralph paused at that. He wasn't expecting her to actually know who he was.

"Uhh... Hey there Yuni." He said.

"What brings you all the way over here?" You had to cross three wires to get to Dance Dance Revolution from where Wreck-It Ralph was on the grid. So this was a completely legitimate question.

"Well, actually I had a favor to ask you." Ralph admitted.

Yuni just stared at him for a bit while he fidgeted under the confused stare.

"Me?" Yuni asked finally.

"Well, if you're busy then just anyone from DDR would do it. I just thought..." Ralph trailed off.

Yuni nodded in understanding. She was the delegate for her game. The one character that everyone knew from exposure. A 'main character' as it were. The one that people knew the disposition of and talked to if they wanted to know something that that game cabinet might know.

"I'm not too busy I guess. What did you need?" Yuni asked.

"Well this friend of mine..." Ralph started to gesture to Vanellope. He looked down around his feet and realized Vanellope wasn't within a certain radius. "Where'd she go?"

"Who?" Yuni gave him a puzzled look.

"Vanell-" Ralph stopped as he spotted her on one of the higher dancing platforms. He smacked his face as he saw some of the ridiculous moves she was making.

"Hold that thought." Ralph said to Yuni as he held his palms out. He rushed off towards the platform.

Vanellope was bouncing around with as much energy one could expect from a sugar-buzzing 9 year old. Ralph waved his arms about, making them just about eye level for her, trying to get her attention. He hopped around under the platform trying to keep up with the movements of her head.

After a minute of this he was getting fed up.

"Vanellope!" Ralph shouted.

"Ralph!" Vanellope answered in sing-song as she continued to bounce around.

Ralph growled and put his hands down. He turned around and nearly ran into Yuni, who had apparently followed him.

"So whose this?" She asked Ralph as she pointed to Vanellope.

"She's a friend of mine. She's from Sugar Rush." Ralph explained.

Yuni just nodded as if that explained everything. Ralph grunted when Vanellope, realizing that Ralph was no longer paying attention to her, jumped onto his shoulders. Yuni led them back to the table again.

"Sugar Rush is going through an upgrade soon," Ralph explained.

"I heard about that. Congratulations." Yuni said.

"Yeah. The thing is, it's their first one." Ralph went on. "And some of them were getting kind of nervous about it."

"Ooooh. So you want a run down of what's going on?" Yuni asked Vanellope.

"Well, since I'm the president of Sugar Rush we really thought that it was my responsibility to get the low down on this whole thing. I heard you were the gal to talk to." Vanellope said wisely.

"Well. I can't think of another game that gets updated as much as this one." Yuni agreed.

"Have a seat and I'll tell you all I can."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, explanations are next.

Review Response:

**MiniMoose:** Expectations? Nooooooooo! Ah well, I can only hope that I don't disappoint them so badly that you stop reading.  
**BoredParanoia:** Y'know... I don't think I know anyone who doesn't feel ridiculous on a DDR. Even the people I know who are pretty good at it are like "I feel ridiculous when I'm doing that."


	4. Chapter 3: Explanations

**A/N:** Chapter 3...In which a lot of talking gets done, but the plot isn't very much advanced in any way. My apologies.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Explanations**

"Well," Yuni started. "Upgrades aren't really anything to be scared of, but they tend to be easier when you're ready for them." She conceded.

"Make sure you're in your game before the upgrade starts. If you're out of game then you're in for a world of hurt when you go back in." Yuni warned.

"Why does it hurt?" Vanellope asked.

"Upgrades put a lot of new code into the system. Included in that is knowledge of how all the new stuff works. Like new dance moves... or in your case I guess it'd be where all the turns in the new tracks are. But it's a lot of information. If you're in the system while the upgrade is going on you get that information a little bit at a time while everything is being updated. But if you go into the game after the fact then you get all of that data put into your character at once, and that REALLY hurts." Yuni explained.

"Trust me, the first time we got upgraded we didn't know what to do. We knew that Mr. Litwak was going to turn off the power, so we thought we should evacuate the game to be on the safe side. The update finished faster than normal, because it didn't update any of our information. But when we all got back into the game the whole system crashed trying to get to all of us at once. It was so painful, like you were about to burst at the seams." Yuni said, reminiscing on her own experience.

"But... if the power goes off won't we all be reset?" Vanellope asked. She clutched Ralph's arm. She wondered briefly if she could stand the pain. None of the other racers would be too concerned with being reset because they didn't have much in the way of friends outside the game, and surely having to update just ONE character wouldn't make the game crash. If she could face it then staying outside the game would solve everything.

Ralph reached his other hand over and patted her clutching arms gently. He just couldn't imagine a Vanellope who didn't know who he was, but he'd rather that then wish any pain on her.

"Oh no. That's only being unplugged. The arcade gets power outages from time to time and nothing ever comes of it. What happens is there's a switch on the back of the cabinet that someone flips. That cuts the power without hurting anyone and then they plug in the upgrades." Yuni answered.

"So... we'll all be fine as long as we all just stay in the game and don't panic?" Vanellope asked hopefully. "And I won't forget anything that happened before?"

"Nope. You won't forget a thing. They do it that way so that high scores won't be lost. Players get so mad when their high scores get erased. So the game cabinet has to keep it's stored data. Pretty convenient, yeah?" Yuni said with a chipper attitude.

Now that Vanellope's worst fears were assuaged she felt like she could get to the smaller ones.

"Clyde said that the upgrade came with improved graphics and new avatar design..." Vanellope started. "Does that mean we're all gonna look completely different?"

"New avatar designs, in my experience anyhow, just means a new outfit and hairstyle. I guess they might change the shape of the body template a little, they do that sometimes. But it's not likely to be anything really major, so I wouldn't worry TOO much about that. And a graphics update just means you're all going to be in higher definition." Yuni said as she thought about it.

"You've never come out of an upgrade looking completely different, have you?" Vanellope asked, trying not to sound too worried.

"No... the most dramatic change I ever got was when the made my pigtails curlier than they used to be. The last upgrade we got made everyone's legs longer though. Better for dancing." Yuni answered.

Vanellope's grip on Ralph's arm finally let up as she let herself relax. This upgrade thing didn't sound too bad now that she had some explanation.

"So, when does Mr. Litwak usually do the upgrades?" Ralph asked as he felt Vanellope's worry drain out of her grip.

"He usually does them when the arcade is closed on Mondays. It's a bummer to miss a day off, but ah well, it's only once every three months." Yuni shrugged.

Before any more questions could be asked a blinding white strobe light went off over the dance floor.

"Ahhh! What's going on?" Ralph hollered as he covered his eyes. The music was already an assault on his ears, he didn't need another sense damaged.

"Oh, that's the warning light. The arcade will be opening soon. We use the strobe so that people have enough time to get out and back to their games." Yuni said as she got up from the table.

Ralph stood up quickly and tried not to panic.

"Don't worry. There's plenty of time for you to get back to your power strip. People come from all over the arcade to hang out here. We learned to set the strobe off early." Yuni remarked as she saw Ralph's expression.

"I can see why! They place is waaay cooler than Tappers." Vanellope said as she looked around the dance floor. They people from other games were starting to filter out now, leaving a good look at the actual space of the club.

"Hey! I'm gonna tell Tapper you said that you little spore. See if he gives YOU any more free root beer floats." Ralph scolded.

"What? Nooo, you big meanie." Vanellope whined. Ralph gave her a mock frown and picked her up around the waist and held her tightly under his arm.

"Nice talking to you Yuni." He said, waving goodbye to the cheerful blonde.

"Bye Ralph, bye Vanellope." Yuni replied. "Come visit again sometime."

Vanellope struggled and kicked half-heartedly as Ralph made their way to the exit, easily clearing a path through the crowd due to his large size. Once they finally made it out Ralph set Vanellope down near her kart, which she'd driven through all three wires like a lunatic.

"So, you feelin' better about the whole thing kid?" Ralph asked.

"I wasn't the one who was worried, remember? It was Taffyta and all of them." Vanellope insisted.

"Well, now you've got something to tell them about the whole thing. You think what Yuni said will make them feel better?" Ralph asked, going along with the ruse.

"Oh yeah, no sweat. I bet it'll make them all feel a lot better." Vanellope said confidently as she got into the drivers seat.

"Glad to hear it." Ralph said as he got on the back of the kart and patted Vanellope on the head.

"Ralph?" Vanellope asked before she started the engine.

"Yeah?"

"You'd still like me if I wasn't cute and adorable anymore, right?" She asked.

"Whatdya mean? If you looked less like an adorable winner and more like a giant stinkbrain?" Ralph replied.

"Yeah." Vanellope answered.

"Well, you still like me even though I'm a giant stinkbrain, right?" Ralph said, posing the question to her.

"Of course." Vanellope dismissed him with a roll of her eyes and a wave of her hand.

"Well then, I can say with confidence: The same goes double for me." Ralph said with a smirk and a ruffle of her hair.

With that Vanellope started down the tunnel so they could quickly get back to their games before the arcade opened for the day.

* * *

**A/N:** In the next chapter we get a little bit of a look into Ralph's brain as the update is going on. So that'll be fun. Potentially.

Review Response:

**BoredParanoia:** I tried to make the set up _entertaining_ anyhow... So there is that.

**MiniMoose:** As correctly predicted, you are in the minority. But I'll try to find some middle ground between fast and more content, just for you. I really rather prefer going fast, if I'm honest. I tend to run out of enthusiasm for my fanfics (please note the 9 other only just started fanfics on my profile) so if I don't get to the interesting bits more quickly then the fanfic doesn't really happen at all. I don't know if you know how that is or not.

**To those interested in Vanellope's upgrade:** I've got my own plans for how old she'll be and what she'll look like. I'll let you wait and see. I'll probably also draw it as soon as my new tablet comes in the mail. So keep an eye out for that sometime next week.


	5. Chapter 4: Waiting

**A/N: **Next chapter! On with the tour...

* * *

**Chapter 4: Waiting**

Ralph gazed across the arcade at the blank screen of the Sugar Rush cabinets. He had a perfect view of it today, even from the bottom of the building, because there were no kids in the way. He had to admit that the black on the screens was terrifying, even knowing what was going on.

Everyone in the arcade was in their start screen positions, playing through their demo screens. Aside from Sugar Rush, DDR, and Kitty's Kitchen anyway. Ralph was having a hard time playing his part while his mind was so occupied. He kept looking back at Sugar Rush where Mr. Litwak and the technician were.

Mr. Litwak was in one of the Sugar Rush seats and looking at the screen while the technician was fiddling around in the wires they'd exposed when they'd opened the side panel of the cabinet. Ralph couldn't see what he was doing, but he had a metal box beside him, the upgrade itself.

Ralph shouldn't really be worried. Upgrades are nothing new, and Vanellope seemed pretty excited about it. At least after Yuni told her about what was going to happen. She didn't seem to be scared at all of going into the game and having the power temporarily shut off. It had sounded a lot better than the alternative.

The technician picked up the box and started plugging wires into it. The connectors made a loud snap, Ralph flinched with every one. After the box was connected it was slid into an installed shelf designed to hold it. The tech flipped a switch and the lights on the cabinet went on.

Ralph watched as the screen lit up and showed the familiar Sugar Rush logo. It looked more like it was made out of icing than ever before. Before Ralph could admire it too much the screen blacked out and a bunch of text popped up on the screen.

"Alright." Mr. Litwak said as the tech closed up the side of the cabinet. "It's loading the updates."

"Great. I told you it wouldn't be a problem." The technician replied.

"Well, you never know." Mr. Litwak said. "You remember what happened to the Dance Dance Revolution game that one time." He reminded.

"We never did figure out what was up with that..." The tech mused. "Anyway, this was the last of them. We can come back in a few hours to see if they need anything else."

Mr. Litwak got out of the seat and started putting all the parts away. After a minute he and the technician were out the door.

After a moment someone sounded the call clear. Ralph rushed down to Game Central Station.

+++[Hours later...]+++

"Ralph..." Felix sighed.

"Yeah?" Ralph replied distantly.

"You've been sitting out here for hours. Don't you want to come and have a root beer at Tappers?" Felix asked hopefully.

"Nah... I'm okay here." Ralph answered.

"Ralph, there's still hours to go before Sugar Rush opens again. You don't have to wait out here the whole time." Felix argued.

"I told her I'd be the first one to greet her after the upgrade finished and I'm gonna." Ralph insisted. Felix sighed and sat down next to Ralph.

Felix sat there for a minute staring at the closed off entrance to Sugar Rush. He sighed and looked at Ralph. He slouched back and crossed his arms, mimicking Ralph's pose. Finding that uncomfortable he pushed himself up straight and put his arms down to dangle between his legs.

"You really would do anything for her wouldn't you?" Felix asked, admiration all over his face.

Ralph looked down at Felix in surprise.

"Is that weird?" He asked after a moment. Felix shook his head vigorously.

"Oh NO. I think it's wonderful that you've found someone to care so much for." Felix answered.

"Hmph." Ralph grunted in surprise.

"What?" Felix asked indignantly.

"Nothing, nothing." Ralph answered.

"Ralph!" Felix argued.

"Really, it's nothing." Ralph insisted. "It's just... it really IS nice. I guess."

Felix frowned at that. He had to wonder if Ralph had really thought about it before. Maybe not. Ralph knew that it was nice when people cared about you. But just like this was the first time anyone cared about him, this was his first time caring about anyone else _too_.

There was a comfortable silence where both Ralph and Felix sat and stared at Sugar Rush and didn't move.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to come to Tappers?" Felix asked again.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ralph answered.

Felix patted Ralph's arm and stood up.

"Well, when Vanellope gets out why don't you bring her by? We'd like to see this new upgrade too." Felix said.

"Will do Felix. Will do." Ralph said as Felix started walking away.

+++[Even more Hours later...]+++

A loud whirring noise woke Ralph up from his dozing. He jerked up and flinched at how stiff his back was. He sat up straight and stretched, groaning with satisfaction as he heard his back pop and crackle. He relaxed and looked up at the sign for Sugar Rush as he rubbed his neck.

The sign was lighting up again and the train on the track started down the tunnel.

Ralph stood up, knowing that Vanellope would be barreling down the track in her kart just about any minute now.

He stood there... and stood there... and stood there some more.

He whistled, and tapped his feet as he waited.

After several 'any minute now's had past Ralph was puzzled. Then annoyed. Then worried. Then suddenly anxious.

"Should I go in?" Ralph wondered.

There was always the possibility that the update wasn't actually finished... If he went in now then who knew what could happen.

Ralph scratched his chin as he thought about it.

"I'll go to Tapper's first. See if Felix is there and let him know what I'm up to." His last experience game jumping had taught him a few things. Even though it was only coming up on 'closing time' you never knew how long this sort of thing might take.

He headed over to the Tapper's exit, looking back at Sugar Rush just once more to make sure.

No... Vanellope wasn't there. He was going to have to go looking for her.

* * *

**A/N:** Cliff Hanger! Hanging from a cliff!... And that's why they call him cliff HANGER!

Review Response:

**BrightLight15:** The montage is a cute idea. But literature and film are two different mediums. I just don't see that working as well as it does in visual. Thank you for the suggestion. But I'd rather take the time to do it right.


	6. Chapter 5: A New Look

**A/N: **And so...

* * *

**Chapter 5: A New Look**

When the racers of Sugar Rush woke up from their nap they'd never been so shocked in their lives. With, perhaps, the exception of finding out Vanellope was a princess.

"Vanellope... You said we wouldn't change so much!" Taffyta gasped as she examined her new look. Taffyta was sporting pink cargo capris and a pink and white striped belly shirt. Her hair came down to her shoulders now and they'd changed out her hat for a wide headband. She had white scarf and gloves and a wide leather belt and boots. She didn't mind the outfit so much, it was trendy and in her favored pink and white. But the way she looked, the way EVERYONE looked... The way _Rancis_ looked, she noted with a completely unfamiliar satisfaction. She shook her head and turned her attention back to Vanellope.

"But Yuni said..." Vanellope barely got out as she examined herself... "Yuni said we wouldn't change so much. She'd been through so MANY updates, I just thought..." Vanellope looked at her dramatically longer limbs. She rubbed her throat as she noticed the slight change in her voice. This... this was going to take some getting used to. She let her hands drop and jumped as she noticed her front.

"Ah geez..." Vanellope sighed. She wrapped her arms around her waist with a frustrated and worried frown.

"Well... Should we... do something?" Candlehead head asked as she fiddled with her pigtails, which were now longer and pulled forward.

"Alright... alright." Vanellope waved her hands at them to hopefully calm everyone down.

"Why... don't we take care of the Random Roster Race first, before we freak out?" Vanellope asked. That sounded sensible. If they did the race first then they could all go off and freak out about this quietly with plenty of time before the arcade opened.

"_Ralph! I forgot I was going to go visit Ralph!_" Vanellope thought in a panic. She looked over at the Rainbow Bridge and then back at the racers. They were all getting into their cars now. Vanellope rubbed at her, now bare, arms and sighed. She looked down at herself again.

"_I'll take care of the race first._" Vanellope affirmed. "_I can talk to him later..._" After she won the race she'd be feeling much more confident.

"Vanellope! What about the new racers?" Swizzle asked. Vanellope turned to him and found him pointing to 5 people she'd never seen before.

"What?!" Vanellope squeaked.

+++[At Tappers...]+++

"The tunnel opened and I waited a while, but she didn't come out." Ralph explained. "I thought about going in to see her, but I wasn't sure if the upgrade had actually finished."

"If the train went down the track then the upgrade definitely finished." Tapper answered.

"Well..." Felix hedged. He and Calhoun were both seated at the bar Ralph was leaning against.

"After an update the civilians were probably a little unruly. You've got to remember, she's supposed to be their leader. She probably has to take care of all the little _bugs_ that might be in the system. Plus weren't they getting new characters? She'll need to show them the ropes." Calhoun said with a rational air.

Everyone nodded at that. Ralph had forgotten that there might be complications that needed to be taken care of.

"Think maybe I shouldn't bug her tonight?" Ralph asked after a minute of thinking about it.

"What? No way. I say we go now! See how she works under fire." Calhoun answered. She downed her beer and headed for the door.

"What?" Felix asked. "Well wait for us!" Felix and Ralph rushed out of the bar and went after her.

+++[Sugar Rush...]+++

Sgt. Calhoun, Felix, and Ralph made their way over to the stands near the finish line. The candy stands were bustling and cheering.

"Looks like they're in the middle of a race..." Calhoun commented as she examined the JumboTron. It showed several of the racers going around a tight curve in a blur. There were several small differences in the environment around them, she noticed as she looked around.

Ralph was looking at the racing list. There were twenty names on it instead of fifteen. But more interesting than that were the thumbnails of the racers. Vanellope, of course, was in the lead, so her thumbnail was the hardest to see. There was definitely a difference... It was just too small.

"Oh look! Here they come!" Felix said as he pointed down the track. Ralph stretched his neck with interest.

A familiar chocolate coated multicolored kart went barreling down the track and past the finish line. It seemed to have an amazing new gloss to it, and the edges seemed much sharper. As it slowed down a mass of familiar black hair became visible. The driver parked the car off to the side of the track.

From where Ralph stood he could on the see the back of her head but the hair, albeit much much longer and pulled back into a loose ponytail, was definitely the same black licorice glossy color. The candies were gone now. It was most certainly Vanellope.

She fiddled with something that she adjusted on her head and then stood up and got out of the kart. She turned around and...

A few more of the karts zoomed past and her hair blew back as she made her way back towards the finish line. Her confident strut and the sway of her hips, emphasized by the heels on her boots and the stiff foil skirt that just peaked out of her new elongated sweater, made all three of them take pause.

"That can't be..." Ralph started to say. Just then she seemed to spot them.

"Ralph!" Vanellope squealed and ran towards the giant of a man. Ralph barely had the presence of mind to catch as she jumped into his arms.

"You came to see the race! Didja see me win? The new cars are so awesome, they go way faster than the old ones!" Vanellope rambled as she hopped down. She spun around and pumped her fist in the air. She calmed down a bit and noticed the way the they all seemed to be looking at her.

It took her a minute to realize what was going on. The heat of the race and the new handling on the cars and the additions to the track had completely distracted her from the other parts of the upgrade. They were staring at her because of her new look. She looked down at herself and then back up at Ralph.

"So... What do you think?" She asked with a sheepish smile. She just knew her face was going a little pink, but she tried to ignore it. She did a little twirl to show off her new look.

Ralph took the time to look at her a little more closely than he was really comfortable with. She seemed to be in her late teens now. Her limbs were long and slim... He blinked and started again.

Her glossy black hair was tied back loosely with a silver foil wrapper piece and it fell almost to her knees. Instead of little hard candies littering her hair, perched atop her head were dark pink racing goggles. Her hoodie had two pockets now, it no longer had sleeves and the short pink sleeves of the t-shirt she had underneath peeked out of the arm holes, her hoodie also went down well past her hips, it held tightly to her waist with a strand of red licorice and then flared out where a stiff foil skirt held it out away from her legs. She sported the same asymmetrical leggings, but instead of ending in short black boots they ended with loose white boots that came up to nearly her knees. To finish the look it appeared that she now had white fingerless racing gloves.

"Uh..." Ralph tried. "Wow." He opened his mouth again, but nothing more seemed to want to come out.

"That's it?" Vanellope asked in a worried tone. Ralph tried to hurry to reassure her but Calhoun beat him to the punch.

"Well, you're all grown up now kid. Ya gotta give him a breather to get used to it." Calhoun explained.

"Yeah, what she said." Ralph said quickly.

"Remember, you promised you'd like me even if I looked like a stinkbrain." Vanellope reminded him in a warning tone.

"Something tells me that's NOT the reaction you'd get if he thought you looked like a stinkbrain." Felix said with a smirk. Ralph rolled his eyes at that.

"You're lookin' good kid." Ralph patted her on the head, which he noticed wasn't nearly so far down as it used to be. She was a good head or two taller than Felix now, which put her just shy of reaching his shoulders.

Vanellope squealed with delight and clung to his arm.

"We should go to Tappers and celebrate!" She exclaimed.

She said it with such conviction that really, how could they say no?

* * *

**A/N:** Did I really spend two whole paragraphs describing outfits? Augh. I hate doing that. Ah well, necessary evils. Anyway. I drew a little sketchy thing, which I then took a crappy picture of, and uploaded it to Deviantart. So, rather than trying to give you a link that I need to post in weird bits... If you go to deviantart and then search "Vanellope adult design sketch nekuyo" you will find it. I'm getting my new tablet sometime this week, then I will do a full color finished artwork of Vanellope's new look.

Review Response:

**Malstar1000** - I actually haven't seen that show in years. But just TRY getting that out of your head now.

**SlipknotGhidorah** - The DDR problem was a reference to what Yuni said in a previous chapter about how it crashed after all the characters went back in after an upgrade.

**BoredParanoia** - You shall never be free from cliff hangers. I actually really enjoy writing chapters that way. But here. I've dropped the other shoe.


	7. Chapter 6: Nap Time

**A/N: **This chapter is so cute I nearly died while writing it. Not to boast... Just sayin'. Also, to those who expressed interest in the 5 new racers... I got nothing. They were kind of an afterthought. Tell you what though... I just got my tablet. So if you guys leave plausible Sugar Rush racer names, I'll pick the 5 I like the best, and I'll make little doodles of them for you guys. Sound good?

* * *

**Chapter 6: Nap Time**

After a week or two Vanellope could finally say that things were finally getting back to normal. Everyone was finally feeling comfortable in their own skin again, they had all been on the new tracks at least once so that wasn't scary anymore, and the new racers were starting to feel like part of the group. Now that all of that was settling down Vanellope felt like she didn't have to spend so much time supervising the dealings around Sugar Rush anymore.

She hadn't been out to Game Central or to visit Ralph or anything almost since that first day of the upgrade when they visited Tappers. She could fix that now. She decided to go and see if Ralph was home and to see if he wanted to go do something.

It never took very long to get to Fix-It Felix Jr. when she used her kart instead of waiting for the boring ol' train that some people liked to use. Ralph gave her a hard time over it, saying that she'd run someone over one of these days. She just argued back that she wasn't any faster than Sonic (though she'd challenged him to a race for the 'arcade's fastest' title and he turned her down) so she couldn't really be any more dangerous than he was. She mused on that while she made her way into Fix-It Felix.

She parked the kart near the exit and went off to find Ralph. His new little shack of a house was off to the right somewhere. Just past the huge brick pile that was the dump.

"Oh hi there Vanellope!" Felix shouted. Vanellope turned and saw Felix striding towards the train stop.

"Hey there Felix. Where ya goin'?" Vanellope asked. Felix seemed to stumble just a little as she smiled at him. "You okay?" Vanellope asked.

"Oh... yeah I'm fine." Felix said. "I was just going to see Tamora." Felix answered.

"Well, I'd give you a ride. But she banned me from Hero's Duty after that one time." Vanellope said with a laugh.

"Nah, it's fine. I don't mind taking the train. I'm not a speed demon, I like going a little slower." Felix said, waving off the offer. "You going to see Ralph?"

"That's the plan." Vanellope answered.

"Word of warning, you might want to enter a little gently. We had a really busy day today and he said he was planning on taking a nap. You know how he gets when you wake him up with a start." Felix said with a laugh. Vanellope nodded sagely.

"Gotcha." Vanellope said. "You and Sgt. Calhoun have fun 'kay?" Vanellope bid Felix goodbye as the train finally came down the track and picked him up.

"You and Ralph too!" Felix said as he waved. He seemed to consider what he'd said and froze up.

"No, I mean... not like that!" Felix hastened to correct. The train was already headed down the tunnel though, so Vanellope just heard a bunch of incoherent stammering. Vanellope just leaned over the track and waved at him until she couldn't see him anymore.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Vanellope said to herself as she stood up straight and headed down the alley towards Ralph's little house.

When she got there she opened the door as quietly as she could, since it tended to squeak a little, her head was already full of at least a dozen ideas on how to startle Ralph awake. Oh, how she loved to annoy him. _Especially_ by waking him up. The way his mouth screwed up when he realized that he was annoyed, it was her fault, but he couldn't actually DO anything about it... Oh, priceless.

Vanellope crept into the one room house and snuck up to where Ralph was laying.

Ralph, oddly enough, had decided to keep his bed of bricks. A little more finely pounded, and now covered with a blanket, but still made of brick chunks. When questioned about it he said something about being a creature of habit. Vanellope could sort of understand that. She had had a hard time getting used to her room in the castle after living in Diet Cola Mountain for so long. Her marshmallow bed was much softer than her old spongecake one, and the sounds of the night weren't interrupted by the bubbling sounds of the hot springs and the occasional falling mentos.

She had eventually gotten used to her new bed, but she'd guessed that Ralph had been sleeping on a pile bricks a lot longer than she'd been sleeping in a cave.

Diet Cola Mountain had finally been finished in the expansion they got. But her little nook was still there. Sometimes the people playing the game would get just a brief look at it when they went around a turn. She'd heard lots of speculation on it, it kind of tickled her that they'd probably never guess the truth about it.

So anyway, here was Ralph, laying on a lumpy, sort of bed shaped, pile of bricks. He was sound asleep, she noted with satisfaction. He looked really peaceful, actually. Vanellope had to wonder if it was really worth it to wake him up. Normally, in a situation like this, Vanellope would take a flying leap onto his chest... and then hide behind something while he widely thrashed around in a short panic attack. Suddenly that seemed really mean.

Vanellope crept up to the bed and, in a fit of something she couldn't define, situated herself beside him. She slid under his arm, which was draped over his chest. She just lay there, all tensed up and nervous, completely motionless.

"_What am I doing?_" Vanellope thought. "_Why did I do this?_" It had just popped into her head to do it, and it had seemed like the best idea she'd ever had. She couldn't think why.

She examined her situation. She was mostly on top of Ralph, and not bricks. That was alright, she guessed. Ralph made for a pretty nice place to lay down, all things considered. He was always really warm, and while he wasn't particularly soft (the big guy had a lot of muscle) he was just soft enough. She'd fallen asleep on him more than once in the past. She'd been a bit smaller at the time, but she was quite sure the principle remained the same.

This thought made her relax quite a bit. This had never bothered Ralph in the past, so she couldn't see any reason this would bug him now. She was pretty convinced wasn't doing anything wrong. With that in mind she could relax, and examine someone else.

Ralph was taking deep, rumbling, breaths. They weren't quite snores, though Vanellope sometimes protested that they were. He could get pretty loud at times. They made it whole chest vibrate just a little, making him just that more comfortable to lay on. Vanellope rested her head on his chest and sighed contently as it rumbled beneath her.

Her sigh had made her inhale deeply. Ralph, bless him, wasn't the most hygienic individual she'd ever met. Unfortunately, you could definitely tell it by the way he smelled. He smelled a bit like mortar, a bit like apple pie and various other sugary things (he hadn't been to Sugar Rush for a while, but the smell clearly had stuck), and quite a lot like fresh sweat and older body odor. She knew from experience that he usually had somewhat unpleasant breath, but as she was down by his chest she couldn't actually smell that.

It was actually sort of pleasant, all things considered. He smelled familiar, and the smell of the sweat that was still warm on his skin seemed to make something in her sort of tingly. If she'd paused for introspection she would have wondered at that one. But she didn't.

Vanellope felt her eyes get all droopy. She'd been all full of energy and mischief just a moment ago, she was sure of it. But here, with Ralph where it was calm... And where she felt all warm and relaxed. The arm that was draped around her moved a little and rubbed her back slowly.

Vanellope vibrated a little as the tingly sensation sent a shiver down her, and then back up in a wave. She clenched her jaw as she felt a yawn coming on and it went through her nose instead.

"_Well... if Ralph has time for a nap, I do too._" Vanellope thought as she closed her eyes with a smile.

* * *

**A/N:** It's... sooo... cute! Next, Ralph's reaction to the whole thing? I might be a little longer in getting that one out though, since I wanna draw Vanellope in color with my new tablet. I'm sort of rusty with my digital art skills, I gotta relearn how to use the thing.

Review Response:

**Trent** - Thank you! That was the plan.

- I'm really glad you like it. I'm trying to keep true to Vanellope's personality, but it's kind of difficult. You gotta think about how much you changed between 9 and 17 and take that into consideration. But you have to remember that the change happened really quickly, so not everything gets translated... It's weird.

**Jesscheaux** - I have to admit, I was skeptical about the Ralph/Vanellope idea at first too. Then I read this adorable little fic called 'In A Pickle' by someone here on FFnet where Vanellope was a little older and was starting to develop a crush on Ralph. It's just a little oneshot, but it's worth reading if you haven't.


	8. Chapter 7: Misconceptions

**A/N: **This chapter... SOOO hard to write! Also very hard to title.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Misconceptions**

Ralph groaned and arched his back a little. He'd always been a little slow to wake up, at least when allowed. He slowly started stretch himself awake. He stretched his face, and wiggled his toes. He wiggled his fingers too, with the intent to scratch at his chest. The fact that the fingers never made contact tipped him to an oddity in his environment. There was something next to him, pressed against his side. Whatever it was it was blocking his hand.

Not being entirely awake Ralph wasn't really sure about what to do about this. His groggy brain reasoned that he should find out what this thing was. Having an unknown thing in the bed with yourself just seemed like a bad thing.

Ralph thought about this. The easiest way to go about finding out, would be to look. But opening his eyes would mean he'd accepted that he was awake. That didn't really seem worth it. Whatever it was, it wasn't bothering him bad enough for that.

His arm was already draped around it, so it couldn't be all that bad. Inspiration sparked. He wiggled his fingers again, when that didn't tell him much he started to feel around. He rubbed the thing a bit. It was soft and... hairy?

Before Ralph could think too much on the texture of this mysterious thing it made a sound. A sweet, delicate, _feminine_ moan reached his ears, and there was some wriggling.

Ralph's body reacted before his mind could even think about catching up. He shivered and emitted a happy sigh as he clutched a little tighter to the female form under his arm. A smile started to creep onto his face.

It was about this time that his brain finally woke up.

"Why is there a woman in my bed?" Ralph thought with a start. He began to open his eyes, but as he had started his head had rammed into his pillow stump. Ralph sat up suddenly and rubbed at his head with his free hand. His other hand had kept a tight grip on the woman next to him.

"Oomph!" Said the woman, who he'd clearly startled awake. Ralph managed to open his eyes, this time without incurring any head damage. What he saw... nearly gave him a heart attack.

It was Vanellope. This in itself wasn't really odd, but...

Her face was crammed into his chest, and she was sort of on her knees on the bed. The effect of him sitting up was that her arms were clutched around him and her back was somewhat arched, causing her re... skirt to be prominently displayed.

Ralph nearly choked.

"Gyaaah!" Ralph was off the bed and across the room faster than he ever thought he could move. He'd almost ran through the wall. Vanellope's precarious balance on the bed was toppled when she didn't let go of Ralph quite fast enough. She wound up on the floor.

"Geez Ralph! I wasn't trying to scare you awake THIS time!" Vanellope complained. She gave him an annoyed, but very surprised, look. Ralph saw how she was crumpled on the floor and felt a twinge of guilt as his heart rate slowed down.

"I'm sorry, I just..." Ralph didn't know exactly how to put it.

"It's just..." Ralph tried again. "Don't do that again, it's weird." He insisted as he gave up trying to explain it any more.

"What do you mean? I do that all the time." Vanellope insisted as she got herself up off the ground. She frowned as she straightened her skirt and brushed herself off.

Ralph was about to vehemently protest that fact, but then stopped. He could recall several times when she had fallen asleep in his arms as a little kid. She probably thought that counted as the same thing.

"It's... different now." Ralph said, rather lamely due to shell shock.

"What? No it's not." Vanellope insisted, sounding rather confused. "Why is it different?"

Ralph turned away and scratched at his neck nervously.

Vanellope recognized that behavior. Ralph wasn't telling her something. Something that he _really_ didn't want her to know. She narrowed her eyes at him, examining his features and trying to find whatever clue he probably didn't know he was giving away. After a minute his eyes cut to her and looked her up and down before quickly cutting away again.

"Ralph!" Vanellope gasped, sounding wounded.

"What?!" Ralph asked quickly. Vanellope had never seen him look so guilty.

"You said what I looked like didn't matter!" Vanellope howled in an accusatory tone.

Ralph paused as his brain locked up. What did she...? The light dawned, but a little too late. Vanellope took his pause as a confirmation. Not only that, but she was going to tell him just what she thought about it.

"Ralph you are such a... Augh! I don't even know!" Vanellope screeched.

"Vanell-" Ralph started towards her.

"No!" Vanellope shoved at him. It didn't do anything, but it made him stop anyway. "I don't want to hear it! You're terrible! And awful! And... and, and the biggest hypocrite I've ever seen!" Vanellope continued.

Ralph thought about interrupting her again, but wondered if it would do any good. He almost preferred her misguided interpretation of events to the truth.

"What right do you have to be so awful about the way ANYONE looks?!" Vanellope went on. "With your stupid, stupid face and-!" She cut herself off with another scream. Suddenly her face got all screwed up.

Ralph really thought that she was going to go on a little more. She still looked really mad. But rather then starting to yell again her eyes started to well up with tears.

"Vanellope..." Ralph said softly. He started to put his arm up but Vanellope slapped it.

"Oh just... shut up! You stupid, ugly, jerk!" Vanellope howled. After a moment she ran out the door.

"Vanellope!" Ralph called after her. He didn't run after her, like he felt like he probably should. He didn't really have the heart. He just stood there, feeling stupid, and more than a little hurt.

After a moment he looked out his back window. Vanellope was in her kart, but she hadn't started the engine yet. She was, sensibly, calming down before she took off. For as fast as she went she was certainly never reckless.

Ralph just stood there looking at her as she calmed down and wiped her eyes. After another few moments she started the engine and left. Ralph shook his head with a dejected sigh.

+++[Sugar Rush...]+++

Vanellope clutched a pillow to her chest as she held back tears. She stared into a mirror on the wall as her lip trembled. She was determined to find just exactly what it was that Ralph seemed to find so strange. What about her appearance made being near her cause to panic? She probably couldn't change it, but if Ralph suddenly hated her... She was at least going to figure out why.

* * *

**A/N:** I feel so mean. Soooo, anyway, on a few unrelated notes... Feel free to search "Adult Vanellope WIP" in DeviantArt to see the art I'm working on. Also, I really liked a couple of the names you guys came up with. Particularly Chikki Verma and Damien Devilscake. Though I was thinking of changing his name to Forrest so that I can add cherries and make his hair coconut looking. Like a Black Forrest Cake. And for Chikki her bindi can be a peanut! I thought that was clever. Thanks to **Cat That Roared** for Chikki's name and thanks to **Blak-Ice** for Damien Devilscake.

Review Response:

**Jeh-nee, BoredParanoia** - your reviews made me really REALLY want to get this chapter out fast, so I hope Ralph's reaction didn't disappoint. You guys made me feel like "OMG, even_ I_ want to know what happens next!" even though I had some idea of what I was going to do anyway.


	9. Chapter 8: Suggestions

**A/N: **Onward!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Suggestions**

Vanellope was NOT having a good day. In fact, her day was SO bad, that she was having a hard time recalling the last time she'd ever been so annoyed. She couldn't recall having crossed the finish line even once during today's gaming. This was, she was certain, mostly the fault of the people who were choosing her. But even when she hadn't been chosen and she was just racing as an NPC she still had never gotten the chance to finish a race because when the player crossed the finish line before you the game automatically reset. She hadn't been able to get any better than 4th place all day.

When the Roster Race had come and she STILL came in 4th she just couldn't stand it any more.

"AUUUGH!" She screamed. She resisted banging her head against the steering wheel, but bit it instead to stifle another scream.

"Jeez Vanellope, there are less destructive ways to get candy if you really wanted some." Taffyta commented, leaning down to examine her friend's face. Vanellope released the wheel and sat up.

"I was... thinking about changing out my wheel for one of those fancy ones that doesn't go in a full circle." Vanellope said after a minute. "I thought if I ate the top bit then I could see if I liked that or not." Vanellope explained. She blushed when Taffyta didn't look convinced.

"Are you okay? You seemed pretty weird this morning." Taffyta mentioned.

Vanellope hadn't gotten much sleep in their off time. Only the small nap she'd had with... She sighed. When she'd gotten to the races at the start of the day her eyes had been all red and sort of droopy. After the adrenaline of the first couple of races had gotten into her system she was able to wake up enough to race as well as she was going to for the day, which clearly hadn't been very good.

"I just... had a long night." Vanellope answered. She sighed and got out of her kart.

"Did something happen between you and Ralph?" Taffyta asked.

"What?" Vanellope asked quickly, trying not to panic. How could Taffyta possibly know?

"Well, you left yesterday. When you leave you always go to see Ralph, so he had to have something to do with it." Taffyta reasoned.

Vanellope relaxed a little.

"So, what's wrong? What happened?" Taffyta asked after a minute.

"I think... Me and Ralph aren't getting along so well now that I'm all..." She gestured to herself.

"Is he being a jerk about the boobs?" Taffyta asked in a matter-of-fact voice.

Vanellope just stood there and stared at her in silence. She could feel her eyes go wide in amazement. Taffyta took her silence as a cue to go on.

"I cannot TELL you how many times I've caught Rancis staring at mine. Just like he's got absolutely no idea what to do with me now that I have them, yknow? Boys are so strange." Taffyta shook her head with a sigh and then stuck her lollipop back in her mouth.

"What do you think... What are you gonna do about Rancis?" Vanellope asked.

"Honestly, I haven't really decided yet." Taffyta answered. Vanellope sagged in disappointment.

"I think the best idea..." Taffyta mused. "Is probably to acclimate him to them. But I don't know that I want to go there with him just yet."

Taffyta and Vanellope just stood there in silence for a bit, both of them thinking on what Taffyta had just said. Suddenly Taffyta just shook her head.

"Anyway, I dunno. I'll see you around Vanellope." Taffyta said as she walked away with a wave.

"Bye Taffyta." Vanellope answered.

Vanellope stopped to think about what Taffyta had said. Could she acclimate Ralph to the way she looked? What would that mean anyway? She sat down on the spoiler of her kart and put her chin on her hand to think about it.

+++[Tappers...]+++

Ralph sat at the bar and sighed as he drank his root beer.

"So, what's wrong Ralph?" Tapper asked. Ralph thought about it for a minute.

"Girl trouble." He answered. Tapper stopped rubbing at the glass in his hands and raised an eyebrow at Ralph.

"What?" Ralph asked flatly.

"Nothing... nothing." Tapper replied nonchalantly. Ralph narrowed his eyes.

"Not that kind of trouble. It's Vanellope." Ralph clarified.

"Oooh." Tapper nodded. Ralph rolled his eyes.

"Oh just shut up." He told Tapper. Tapper shrugged and continued cleaning the glass in his hand. It wasn't long after that Felix came in and sat down beside Ralph.

"Alright Ralph." Felix said with a of determination. "What happened between you and Vanellope last night?" He asked.

Ralph moved his mouth around as he decided how to answer that.

"What makes you think anything happened between me and Vanellope?" Ralph asked.

"Oh please. Don't think I didn't notice that she went away in tears. Not only that but she crashed 3 times today. _Without_ anyone at the controls." Felix replied. As far as Felix was concerned that was nearly unheard of. Vanellope had to be very distracted to even swerve funny.

Ralph had noticed that too. He was pretty worried about her, but he wasn't about to go over to Sugar Rush and check. More for her sake than his, he justified. She didn't want to see him, he was sure. It had nothing to do with feeling a little wounded. He was, in fact, quite relieved that Vanellope _didn't_ find him attractive. God knows how hard that would be to deal with in addition to everything else.

"We just... had a little fight last night." Ralph confessed.

"What about?" Felix asked. He ordered a root beer from Tapper, sensing that this might be a long conversation.

"Nothing important." Ralph answered after a moment, his voice just a little higher pitched than normal. Felix just stared at him, clearly not accepting that answer. Ralph fidgeted.

"She... _seems_ to be under the impression that I find her... too hideous to look at." Ralph answered hesitantly.

Felix's eyes got so wide that Ralph was concerned that they might fall out. Felix opened his mouth and closed it several times before being able to say anything.

"Hideous?" Felix managed to ask. "Her?" He added."Really?"

Ralph gave an over emphasized shrug and a grimace. Felix narrowed his eyes.

"What did you do?" Felix asked with an air of resignation.

"What makes you think I did anything?" Ralph asked innocently.

"Ralph..." Felix insisted. Ralph grunted in frustration.

"I... may or may not have a hard time looking at her." Ralph confessed. Felix blinked.

"Why?" He sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Have you seen her?" Ralph questioned.

"Ye-hes! And I've got to say, she's not exactly hard on the eyes." Felix answered. Ralph glared at him. "Don't tell Tammy I said that." Felix added quickly.

"Felix, it's _Vanellope_!" Ralph stressed. "You know that cute little girl we knew about a month ago? That's her."

Felix looked away and scratched at his face, thinking about what was said. Felix, although he was friends with Vanellope, wasn't as close to her as Ralph was. Ralph and Vanellope had been almost inseparable since day one. He had to stretch his mind to do it, but he could see how it might be uncomfortable for a kid you were close to to suddenly be very attractive.

"Yeah..." Felix tentatively agreed. "I guess I can see your point." He didn't sound all that sure of that assessment.

Ralph rolled his eyes. Felix clearly didn't get it.

There was a long silence where they both took swigs of their root beers and thought on the subject. Felix started to say something a few times, but stopped himself with another sip. Finally, once his glass was empty, and Ralph had started on his second, he spoke up.

"You know... All of this might be avoided if you just admitted to her that you found her attractive." Felix thought to mention. Ralph choked on his root beer. During Ralph's coughing fit he went on.

"I know it'd be a little awkward and maybe embarrassing. But she thinks the world of you, and - "

"NO." Ralph interrupted.

"Oh Ralph, you know you two could -" Felix started again.

"Not after what she -" Ralph started to interrupt again, but he cut himself off.

There was a tense silence as Ralph could hear the cogs in Felix's head turning. He was figuring it out.

"Oh Ralph..." Felix said sympathetically.

"Don't 'Oh Ralph' me like you just know what _any_ pretty teenage girl would say to me in a situation like that." Ralph insisted with a frown.

"She thought that you were implying she was ugly and so she -" Felix elaborated, to show he knew exactly what Vanellope might've said.

"Shut up, Felix." Ralph said without heat.

"Ralph, she was upset. You know she didn't mean it." Felix said quietly.

"It doesn't matter." Ralph said. Felix gave him an incredulous look. Ralph sighed in annoyance.

"I'm not looking to have her fall for me. I don't care that she not... Nnngh." Ralph couldn't even say it, it sounded too stupid in his head.

"So why can't you tell her the truth?" Felix asked.

"I don't want to make her... uncomfortable." Ralph replied. "Nevermind the way I look, the way she behaves... It's like she doesn't actually realize that _anyone_ might... Be interested in her. Like that." Ralph explained, thinking on the way he'd woken up the night before.

Felix nodded. That made a lot of sense to him. She'd been just a little girl before the upgrade. Felix rubbed at his chin in thought. She must be pretty confused all things considered... It's why she didn't see the signs of Ralph's attraction for what they were...

Felix's eyes lit up as an idea formed in his head.

"What?" Ralph asked warily.

"I bet no one's ever explained the Plugs and the Sockets to that girl." Felix mused aloud.

"Probably not, no..." Ralph agreed with apprehension. He certainly hoped that Felix wouldn't suggest that _he_ should do it.

"I'm sure Tamora would be glad to do it." Felix said, finishing his thought.

Ralph didn't need a root beer to choke on that time.

* * *

**A/N:** Geeez, this chapter was just ridiculous.

Review Response:

**The Phantom Soldier, BoredParanoia, vesperlynds, jeh-nee** - I'm so glad you all thought so highly of the last chapter and the emotions and... what you all said individually. I was harder to read than to write though. When re read it I felt really mean for putting Ralph and Vanellope through that. So I'm glad you all thought it was worth it.

**jeh-nee** - I LOVE the name Luicy Gummiberry! And Schaur (pronounced 'sour' I presume?) Lemondrop. Though that one might be just a little too punny. xD


	10. Chapter 9: The Talk

**A/N: **I'm not gonna lie. This chapter just isn't as good as it had the potential to be.

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Talk**

Sergeant Tamora "Tammy" Calhoun Fix-It had a job to do. It was a gritty one, one that no one else could possibly do, but she was determined. She sighted her target. A teenager with long black hair and a somewhat oblivious expression. She looked like she was thinking too hard about something.

Vanellope, bless her little heart. Tamora was actually rather fond of the girl. Ever since the first day they'd met, in the midst of a battle against the cybugs destroying her home, the girl had been a spitfire. She had been entirely unafraid of the prospect of dying for her friend's safety. And then, when her friend was in perilous trouble, she dove into the fray to save him. Tamora had to admit, she rather looked at Vanellope as the daughter she never intended to have.

So, when Felix had brought this situation to her attention, she didn't balk at the idea of imparting some knowledge with the girl. After filtering Felix's version of events through a feminine perspective she had some idea of what was probably going on with the girl. The most important thing to address, in Calhoun's opinion, was the fact that her dynamic with Ralph had changed, and she hadn't even realized it yet.

It was making Ralph uncomfortable, and in turn it was distressing Vanellope because she didn't understand why it was making Ralph uncomfortable. Once that was cleared up the immediate problems would be solved. But there was no telling what might come of all this later.

Calhoun decided to stop musing on the task at hand and just get it done. She marched up to the pondering girl and announced herself.

"Hey kid." Calhoun greeted at she came up on Vanellope. Vanellope looked up from her contemplation.

"Oh... Hi Tammy." Vanellope said hesitantly. "What're you doing here?" It wasn't often that Sgt. Calhoun visited Sugar Rush. She usually said that the sugar in the air gave her hives.

"I came to see you." Calhoun answered. She sat down next to Vanellope on the fallen peppermint tree. Vanellope paused at that answer.

"Why?" Vanellope asked

"Just thought you'd like some clarification on what's going on." Calhoun answered.

Vanellope thought on that for a moment.

"Did... Did Felix tell you what happened between me and Ralph?" Vanellope asked shyly.

"I heard a little about that. Yeah" Calhoun conceded.

"So... you want to explain why Ralph thinks I'm ugly?" Vanellope asked hopefully. Calhoun had to resist slamming her palm onto her face.

"Kid, he doesn't-" Calhoun stopped herself before she went the wrong way about it. She had a game plan and she meant to stick to it.

"I can do one better than that. I can explain why he can't look you in the eye." Calhoun said, veering the conversation into the territory she wanted.

Vanellope blinked.

"Is there a difference?" She asked. Calhoun chuckled.

"Oh yes." Calhoun said. "Definitely."

Vanellope she sat there looking puzzled.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

"What did you tell Calhoun about what happened anyway?" Ralph asked nervously.

"I told her a little about Vanellope's behavior, and how she doesn't understand... things." Felix answered.

"Things?" Ralph prompted.

"Certain... physical cues." Felix explained.

Ralph groaned and his his hands on his head. Felix meant the 'cues' that _Ralph_ had been giving. That Ralph had been trying very hard _not_ to give. Now he was going to be used as an example in 'the talk'. Ralph was having a hard time trying to think of anything quite so embarrassing. He resolved that he never, ever, wanted to know what Calhoun was saying to Vanellope today.

+++[Sugar Rush...]+++

"Hence the metaphor. Because of the... physical aspect of the whole thing." Calhoun finalized.

Vanellope absorbed the information. It all made sense in it's own way, and it certainly explained a lot about what Taffyta was going on about. It's just...

"What does this have to do with what happened between me and Ralph?" Vanellope wondered aloud.

"Well, when this whole process starts to kick in, the expectations in how you're supposed to act change." Calhoun explained. "Things that you used to do, that were perfectly okay when you were nine, aren't as well received now that you're more grown up."

Vanellope's face was still twisted into a confused expression.

"In body if not in mind." Calhoun added dryly.

"You mean this was all because I slept with him?" Vanellope asked incredulously. Calhoun cleared her throat loudly. She held out a hand.

"You mean you 'fell asleep next to him'. There's a difference." Calhoun corrected.

"Right." Vanellope dismissed. "Ralph said that it was weird for me to do that now. But I thought he'd meant... " Vanellope suddenly looked forlorn.

"Ralph reacts poorly under duress." Calhoun said with a roll of her eyes. A technical way of saying that Ralph was quick to panic over small things.

"Oh no!" Vanellope moaned. "I was so horrible about it." She said, sagging in misery.

"I wouldn't worry so much about that right now. I don't think Ralph is mad about that." Calhoun waved off the worry Vanellope was emanating.

Vanellope stewed in her own guilt and worry for a minute, replaying the scene in her head and making it seem ten times worse that it really ended up being. She thought carefully on the part where she just knew that Ralph was hiding something.

"Why didn't Ralph just tell me any of this himself?" Vanellope asked Calhoun in frustration when she couldn't get the last piece of the puzzle on her own.

Calhoun thought very carefully about her next sentence. On one hand, she could tell Vanellope the truth. She could tell her that Ralph was attracted to her and having a hard time dealing with it. Explain to her all about how you could tell when someone was attracted to you and that she should look out for those sorts of signs.

On the other hand... Was it really fair to Ralph to put it so bluntly? Ralph was clearly having mixed emotions over the whole thing. Plus... If she told Vanellope and Vanellope didn't feel the same (doubtful, the possibility was there) then the idiot girl would probably apologize to Ralph and strain their relationship even more than it was. But if Vanellope DID feel the same... Then she'd probably try to jump into it right away because she didn't know any better.

"_No..._" Calhoun thought. "_I really better let her figure this one out on her own._" It pained her to do it though. The chaos that would ensue from telling the truth... Being married had turned her soft.

"It's a weird guy/girl thing." Calhoun said dismissively, with believable disgust at how silly men were. "Somewhere along the line someone decided that men can't talk to women about these sorts of things. That's why I was called in. To clear all this up."

"Does everyone else just know this stuff?" Vanellope asked. Vanellope felt like there was so much she just didn't know. It didn't seem fair to have to learn a whole new set of rules for a new body that she didn't even ask for.

"No. It's something everyone has to figure out. You just haven't been given the luxury of having a lot of time to figure it out in, because of your over night growth spurt." Calhoun answered with a sigh. She knew that this would make everything just that much harder for Vanellope, who seemed to be struggling with the concept at all.

As Calhoun had gone through Sugar Rush looking for her she saw one of Vanellope's little friends, the pink one. _She_ had clearly grasped the concept of how to interact with the opposite sex. She'd been flirting shamelessly with one of the other racers when Calhoun had asked her where she might find Vanellope. Pretty good taste too, the object of her attentions had been sporting a chocolate colored leather jacket of some sort.

"Does Ralph know all of this?" Vanellope had to ask.

Calhoun blinked at the question. She didn't really understand where it had come from.

"I imagine he knows about the male half of the equation." Calhoun answered. She got up and dusted off her backside, sensing the conversation coming to an end.

"Hmm..." The gears in Vanellope's head were turning. Calhoun imaged they were going quite slowly, but they seemed to be going down the right track.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm so sorry. I promise the next chapter will be better. Ralph and Vanellope will be on talking terms again and everything. And much funny, which this chapter seemed to be lacking despite the huge potential for it. I actually wrote a scene where Calhoun was explaining the actual mechanical bits and then decided not to use it just at the last minute. I think I'll actually type it out and put it up as a oneshot in a few days. Just to make up for the lack of funny.

ALSO! I'm happy to announce that this fanfic is official my most reviewed, most viewed, most watched AND most favorite fanfic in my whole list now. As of... like, a few hours ago. Wow.

Review Response:

**jeh-nee:** Nooo, Ralph is like... feeling 5 different things at once. Actually saying how he felt would be impossible at this point. It'd come out something like "I think you're hot, and I'm really sorry. I'm trying to stop." And I just don't think Vanellope would understand. It'd be pretty funny though, I admit. And like I said before, NEVER apologize for a long review. xD

**Blak-Ice** - I'm afraid that Taffyta is going to end up being a very misleading influence on Vanellope...

**Wreck-It Ralph** - Hershal Nougatson! That one is really good! xD I think I probably have 5 names to work with now if you include that one. But I sort of hope people keep submitting them. They're funny to think about.


	11. Chapter 10: The Lock

**A/N:** I really should've had the first part of this chapter at the end of the last one. But these are the sorts of things you sacrifice when you type too fast to think about that sort of thing.

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Lock**

Vanellope and Calhoun made their way to Fix-It Felix Jr. on foot. This would give Vanellope a chance to think about what she was going to say to Ralph. She rehearsed it all mentally.

_"I'm sorry Ralph. I didn't mean any of what said... but then again you probably knew that. It's just that you were acting so weird, and you know I KNOW when you're not saying something, how was I _really_ going to know what it was? And why can't we talk about that sort of thing anyway? That's so unfair, I usually come to you with all my problems, I mean... I always want to talk to you." _

Vanellope sighed at that last thought. Things didn't really have to be different now, did they?

When they got to Fix-It Felix Jr. they found Ralph and Felix milling around in the lobby of Nicelander Apartments. They were discussing something in hushed tones. Ralph was all annoyance, whatever it was. They stopped when they spotted the two of them.

"Hey there. How'd it go?" Felix asked, walking up to Calhoun and patting her leg in greeting.

"Oh, well enough I guess." Calhoun answered, being deliberately vague.

Ralph walked up to the pair a little more hesitantly. Vanellope had a weird sort of shell shocked look on her face. He could only wonder what all that was about, and he didn't really want to find out.

Vanellope fidgeted, her thoughts going around in circles as she looked at Ralph. She thought about what she intended to say to him. She did owe him an apology, but...

Vanellope suddenly lunged at Ralph and hugged him as tightly as she possibly could. Much to the confusion of all present. After it became apparent that she wasn't going to let go any time soon, Ralph hugged her back.

"I'm sorry about what I said and I'm sorry if I did something wrong, but I'm not going to change. So you'll just have to deal with it." Vanellope said with firm resolve, her voice muffled by Ralph's chest.

"... What?" Ralph asked. He looked to Calhoun for an answer. Calhoun rubbed at her chin, trying not to look too satisfied. She shrugged nonchalantly. Felix tapped at her leg and she bent down.

"Did we just hear a pretty girl admit that she wasn't going to stop jumping into bed with Ralph?" Felix asked. Calhoun just burst out laughing.

+++[And then...]+++

Life slowly proceeded to find a bit of balance after that, getting as back to normal as they could dare to be. A precarious balance, that only Ralph felt, seemed to spring up around Ralph and Vanellope.

Vanellope, for all she claimed she refused to change for this thing, could feel her own hesitation in touching Ralph more casually. Perhaps she was going off of Ralph's lead, since he almost never touched her at all anymore. Her own hesitation never actually stopped her, of course. But whenever she reached for Ralph's arm she got a little thrill. It reminded her vaguely of how she felt whenever she did something on purpose to annoy Ralph. It gave her the same giggly sensation, but it also made her just a little shivery after she'd done it.

Ralph, for the most part, had learned to stop reacting to these sorts of things. Every overly familiar touch didn't send him into hyperventilation like it had before. There was still an unavoidable awkwardness there, built from two relationship dynamics clashing, but that seemed to be wearing down.

Vanellope's part in all of this was to imagine that nothing had changed. She did, in fact, seem to act like the same persistent, overly affectionate, annoyance that she'd always been.

Ralph's was to ensure that nothing awkward or embarrassing happened to him because of it. The very first thing he did was get a lock for his door. Which was where some of the first awkwardness came in.

"The door didn't open." Vanellope pouted when the door opened.

"That's because I locked it." Ralph explained groggily. He'd fallen off the bed at the loud pounding and hollering that Vanellope had been doing on the outside.

"Locked it?" Vanellope asked. "When did you get a lock?"

"Recently." Ralph replied. Vanellope blinked and cocked her head at the lock. After a minute she narrowed her eyes at it, then cut her eyes to Ralph.

"Mmmhmm." She said.

Ralph attempted to get normal conversation going. Suggesting random things to do to pass the time. Vanellope would just hum in uncertainty, still eying him with suspicion. Eventually Ralph couldn't stand it any more and uttered the word he knew he'd regret saying.

"What?" Ralph asked in resignation.

"You're trying to keep me out of your house." Vanellope accused.

"What? No." Ralph argued. "I'm trying to keep you out of my bedroom, there's a difference."

"Your house is only one room." Vanellope pointed out.

"Yes. And when I'm asleep, it's a bedroom." Ralph reasoned. Vanellope had to think about that one. Ralph tried to take that pause to change the subject.

"C'mon, you came here so we could go do something fun, didn't you?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah..." Vanellope said hesitantly.

"So, let's go." Ralph started ushering her to the door.

"But if I can't come in I can't wake you up in new and even more annoying ways." Vanellope argued with a half-hearted pout.

"Trust me, the way you were knocking was _plenty_ annoying." Ralph assured.

"Well that's no fun, the reaction is the best part!" Vanellope complained.

"Where do you wanna go?" Ralph asked.

"Bounce Out!" Vanellope answered, her mind finally drawn from the subject.

Vanellope was bound and determined to never get used to knocking.

* * *

**A/N:** Bounce Out is a game that I just made up on the fly. In my head it's like Break Out (one player pong where you destroy all of the bricks). And... I imagine there being lots of trampolines. It seems like the kind of place Vanellope would think is very fun, but would really bug Ralph for no good reason.  
And yes, Vanellope develops a grudge against the lock.

Review Response:

**malstar** - Pocky! I love pocky. But how about "Perdita Pocky". That sounds fancier for some reason.

**jeh-nee** - There will be chatting with Taffyta. Soon-ish.

**BoredParanoia** - I told myself I was going to put out a chapter a day no matter what. They're short, and in my head they're sort of lacking, but I'm feeling sort of in the quantity over quality mood at the moment. So yeah, fast updates. If I did it slower the chapters would be more thought out and about three times as long. But I kind of like this method of just banging them out in a couple of hours. It gives me time to think of other things during the day.

**atopthewatertower** - I don't even know if I need any more names or not. I haven't even started designing any of the character names I've gotten so I've already forgotten them. I like Cynna Monroe though! Does she have swirly curly hair that looks like a cinnamon bun? If she doesn't I will be highly disappointed.


	12. Chapter 11: Dating?

**A/N: **Hmmm...

* * *

**Chapter 11: Dating?**

Vanellope, in the off hours that she wasn't spending with Ralph, liked to hang around Sugar Rush and just admire it. Now that she was in charge she liked it better. She sometimes even went and hid away in Diet Cola Mountain again, for old times sake. But she also liked to sit somewhere up high and look around at all the candy-striped scenery and the people. It was just a fun way to organize her thoughts.

Normally she'd think about what it actually meant to be in charge of all this, and ways to make things more interesting. Usually nothing very world changing, just little things. But more often than not she lately found her thoughts turning to Ralph.

Just... little thoughts that would creep in between her more sensible ones. She'd be staring at the candy cane forest and then suddenly have an idea that maybe a candy tree trimming department really _would_ be a good idea. Which, of course, lead to Ralph. She'd think about how they met, and think about how strong his arms must be to be able to climb the tree in the way he had. That made her sigh, for no good reason. Which would distract her and make her wonder why in the world she was think about Ralph's arms.

When she sat up high and observed the people she began to notice something. Taffyta was starting to spend quite a lot of time with Rancis. She'd see them walking around, Taffyta giggling and clinging to Rancis' arm. Rancis would be smiling down at her and talking quietly like they were sharing secrets. It made Vanellope strangely jealous. It took her a long time to figure out why, for she certainly didn't have a lot of love for either Taffyta or Rancis. It eventually dawned on her, she'd rather like it if Ralph acted more like Rancis when Vanellope grabbed _his_ arm like Taffyta was doing.

Ralph, although he never pulled away, usually tried to distance himself a bit whenever Vanellope snuggled into his arm. It hadn't bothered Vanellope before, but seeing Rancis' reaction to Taffyta made her feel oddly disappointed. Like she was clearly missing something.

She thought she'd talk to Taffyta about it. Maybe she was doing something differently that Vanellope just couldn't see from a distance.

It took a while, but Vanellope finally got her chance. After the Random Roster Race one day Taffyta was milling around and chatting with Candlehead.

"Hey Taffyta." Vanellope greeted casually.

"Hi there Vanellope, what's up?" Taffyta greeted.

"Umm... Well, actually I wanted to talk to you about something." Vanellope said.

Taffyta looked at Vanellope, then at Candlehead. Candlehead blinked and then realized what was going on.

"Oh. No, that's fine. I was actually going to go hang out with Snowanna and Jubileena anyway." Candlehead excused. She waved and then went off. Taffyta and Vanellope started walking toward the jawbreaker beds.

"So, what's up?" Taffyta asked once they were out of earshot.

"I dunno... I guess, I just wanted to see how you and Rancis were doing?" Vanellope asked with forced nonchalance.

"Oh... we're doing okay, I guess." Taffyta answered, confused as to why Vanellope would ask.

"That's nice." Vanellope answered with a nod.

Taffyta, being more astute than people gave her credit for, thought she knew what was going on.

"How're you and Ralph getting along?" Taffyta asked.

"Me and Ralph?" Vanellope wondered.

"Well, we always see you two together. Arm in arm and stuff. You two hang out together almost more than I do with Rancis. We just thought..."

"Oh... yeah. I guess." Vanellope answered. She wasn't exactly sure what she was agreeing to, but the way Taffyta said it, it made sense.

"So, how are you two doing?" Taffyta asked again.

"Well, I dunno. Ralph is...Oh, I'm not really sure. It's just... Ralph doesn't look at me the same way Rancis does you. I guess I was just wondering why." Vanellope said, sitting down on a jawbreaker.

Taffyta had to think about that. She didn't know Ralph very well. He didn't seem too friendly with many people. People always greeted him warmly, but he just sort of grunted back.

"Well. He seems like a stand-offish sort of guy." Taffyta thought aloud. "That probably has something to do with it. Some men are just more affectionate than others."

"It didn't used to be like that." Vanellope mourned. "It used to be that he'd always smile at me, no matter what. Now I have a hard time getting him to look at me."

Taffyta sat down on a nearby jawbreaker to think about that one. She rubbed at her chin.

"Well, that just sounds like he's being shy." Taffyta said.

"That doesn't sound like Ralph." Vanellope frowned.

"Well, some guys are just weird when it comes to dating." Taffyta said dismissively. "Clearly _you_ have to make the first move."

"Dating?" Vanellope asked. Taffyta stopped.

"You are dating Ralph, aren't you?" Taffy asked.

"Umm..." Vanellope hesitated.

+++[Tappers...]+++

Ralph was trying not to laugh as Felix and Calhoun were making their way all around the dance floor. He was failing miserably. It probably had to do with one too many drinks, but Calhoun's tendency to lift Felix just a bit on the more enthusiastic turns and Felix's sort of hopping dance moves in order to be barely tall enough to successfully dance with her... it was hilarious.

Felix came over when they'd decided they'd had enough of dancing. Calhoun had went... somewhere. Ralph wasn't really paying much attention.

Felix hopped onto the bar stool next to Ralph and ordered two drinks. Apparently Calhoun was going to be coming back.

"Oh, it's hard keepin' up with that gal of mine sometimes." Felix commented. He was fairly out of breath. Ralph, who had calmed down, chuckled again.

"It must be." Ralph commented.

"What's so funny?" Felix asked.

"If you'd seen yourselves out there you'd be laughing too." Ralph commented. Felix just humphed at him.

"Well, some of us don't care about looking looking ridiculous as long as we're having fun." Felix said with an air of importance.

"Uh-huh." Ralph said dryly.

"So, what made you tag along anyway?" Felix asked.

"I didn't mean to horn in on your date night with Calhoun. I was just coming to Tappers." Ralph explained.

"Oh, it's not that. We don't think of you as a 3rd wheel or anything. It's just that we didn't expect it. You've been spending a lot of time with Vanellope lately. We figured you might be having your own date night thing going on." Felix explained.

"Date night?" Ralph asked. "Why would you think we were dating?"

"I dunno..." Felix replied. "Just the way you two act I guess." Felix reasoned.

"What?" Ralph asked.

"Well, she's always hanging on your arm and looking so happy. And you're always taking her out places." Felix answered.

"I've always done that!" Ralph argued.

"Yeah, but you're the one who was harping on about how there are supposed to be different between you two now. To make that work it's not just her behavior that needs to change." Felix said. "You knew that, right?" Felix asked Ralph.

"Umm..." Ralph blinked at that.

"Ralph, have you been leading that girl on?" Felix asked, sounding downright scandalized.

"What? No!" Ralph protested. "We haven't been doing anything weird or romantic or... couple-y." Ralph finished lamely.

"You have no idea about dating, do you?" Felix asked with a deadpan stare.

"Umm..." Ralph thought.

* * *

**A/N:** Ah Ralph. You only _think_ you know what you're doing. So, everyone thinks they're dating... Lets see what those two do with this information, shall we?

Review Response:

**jeh-nee**- Oh, don't worry. Vanellope isn't done with the pranks and possible impromptu naps.

**Vanellope von Schweetz 12, vesperlynds** - I'm glad you thought that line was funny. I thought it was pretty funny too.


	13. Chapter 12: Thinking

**A/N:** This chapter is short, but it's the 2nd one today so...

* * *

**Chapter 12: Thinking**

It took a while for Vanellope to fully grasp the concept of 'dating'. It seemed well enough like what she and Ralph were doing, but there were a few things missing. The affection that Taffyta explained belonged there seemed to be lacking. There also seemed to be a distinct lack of what Vanellope had classified as 'physical attention'. Taffyta could very well justify it as Ralph being 'stand-offish', but Vanellope knew better.

Ralph was only like that to people he didn't really like. Vanellope suspected that Ralph never got over his first impressions of Taffyta. Sometimes Vanellope had a hard time forgetting her broken homemade kart and the sensation of being pushed into the mud too. Her quickly forgiving nature made her put it aside. That, and Taffyta has proven herself many times to be genuinely regretful of how she'd acted time and time again. Ralph, who didn't spend a lot of time around the other racers, probably just didn't see that. Not that she thought he'd like Taffyta much anyway, but maybe he'd be a bit more indifferent.

Ralph had always been rather demonstrative towards her in the past. Hugs and piggyback rides and pecks on the cheek. She remembered them quite vividly. She only knew that part of the change had to do with the 'boundaries' that men and women were supposed to have as adults. She didn't think that was all of it though. Could it really be that because she was older Ralph just didn't like her as much? It didn't seem so far fetched... But if that was the case then why did everyone seem to think they were closer then ever?

There had to be something she was missing.

Vanellope thought back to all of the discussions she'd had about all of this. With everyone. Taffyta, Tamora, and even Felix had had a little to say about it. There seemed to be just one single person missing. She hadn't discussed any of this with Ralph. Well, clearly that was the problem. Tammy had said to not to, but surely she didn't mean about everything. This involved him more than anyone else, she needed to get his opinion on it.

Talking to Ralph had never been a problem in the past. Whenever she asked him a question he always gave a good firm answer. Or, barring any real answer, an opinion. This didn't have any reason to be different. So, she'd just ask.

"_Ralph, are we dating?_" or maybe "_Ralph, what's your opinion on dating? Specifically me_". Neither of those sounded exactly like what she wanted to know. But they'd be close enough. They were the most direct questions she could think of to get to the heart of the matter. Ralph never refused to answer a direct question. Even when she didn't understand or like the answer.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

Vanellope made her way to Ralph's little house, determination in her stride. She was going to get an answer to all of this. It had to be an answer from him. Talking to anyone else at this point just wasn't going to help at all.

Vanellope got to the door and tried to open it automatically. It didn't budge. She resisted the annoyed scream that was trying to build in her throat. This lock thing just wasn't going to fly. She looked over at the window. She moved over and looked through it. The curtains didn't quite hide the interior. Through the curtains she could see Ralph, asleep on his odd little bed. She sighed.

Vanellope looked at the windowsill. She took her gloves off and placed her palms very firmly against the glass and pushed up. The window budged enough that could get her fingers under the sill and push it the rest of the way up. She wriggled through the window and landed with a flop on the floor.

"Haha! Success!" Vanellope crowed quietly as she got up. She dusted herself off and closed the window again. No stupid lock was going to keep her out. She went over to Ralph and deliberately sat down heavily on his chest.

"Oof!" Ralph grunted. He sat up quickly and Vanellope clutched to his neck to keep herself upright. He opened his eyes and blinked heavily a few times to focus his vision.

"... How did you get in?" Ralph asked after a moment.

"Magic." Vanellope answered glibly. She examined their new position. She was clutching at his neck and her seating had slipped from his chest down to thighs. Something in her couldn't help but feel very satisfied with this.

"Why are you here?" Ralph tried again.

"We need to talk." Vanellope answered. She nodded to reaffirm the statement.

"About what?" Ralph asked as he rubbed at his eyes.

"Dating."

Ralph had suddenly never been more awake in his life.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah... just. There you have it.

Review Response

**BoredParanoia** - Probably what I wanted to convey with that chapter just didn't come through right. Vanellope is only just touching on her feelings. "I want Ralph to behave the same way I see Rancis treating Taffyta. How do I make that happen?" Then, offscreen, Taffyta explains dating in terms of the limited knowledge she has of it. Where as Ralph, while he's got plenty of technical knowledge on the subject of girls, he's got no experience in actually interacting with people. He knows next to nothing about dating or romance simply because he's never had the chance to experience it. Also, he just strikes me as socially awkward in general. I've been trying to express that, but I've been concentrating more on Vanellope. So... yeah.  
You make a very good point about the Bad Anon's though... I'll have to think about that.


	14. Chapter 13: Talking

**A/N:** This chapter... was really really hard to write. I'dve kept working on it if I hadn't wanted to get it out today.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Talking**

Ralph bolted out of bed suddenly and wiped a hand over his face and neck. Geez, what a way to wake up.

"Is there any reason to knock me to the ground every time you wake up?" Vanellope asked sarcastically from the floor.

"I dunno, is there any reason to crawl all over me when I'm asleep?" Ralph asked.

"Not really I guess. Except you're pretty darn cozy." Vanellope answered as she got up.

Ralph humphed at that. Surely that's all he could aspire to. To be 'cozy' to a ridiculous teenager.

"So, before I was so _rudely_ knocked to the ground..." Vanellope started.

"No." Ralph interrupted.

"No what?" Vanellope asked. She sat on the bed.

"No, I would rather not talk about... that." Ralph clarified.

"Well suck it up stinkbrain. Because we clearly need to." Vanellope replied. She leaned back on her arms and crossed her legs.

"Nnngh." Ralph replied.

"I've talked to Tammy, I've talked to Taffyta, and even Felix has has something to say about this. But I want to talk to _you_." Vanellope pleaded. "This is about you. I want to know what you think."

"About me?" Ralph asked. Incredulity all over him.

"This all started because you started to treat me differently when I got older." Vanellope reasoned.

"That's just because that's what you do!" Ralph argued.

"I know that. But you weren't treating me the same as everyone else. Everyone else was happy for me. Even random guys I didn't know would smile at me. But you could hardly look at me." Vanellope complained.

"They weren't happy for you. They were flirting." Ralph said in frustration. He'd noticed it too, that first day when they'd went to Tapper's. Not a single guy in the place hadn't cast leering eyes in her direction. Vanellope, being a very friendly girl, was almost a natural flirt. If only she'd understood what they'd actually wanted then... It'd bugged him for several reasons, most of which he'd refused to think about.

"Flirting?" Vanellope asked in disbelief.

"Yes, flirting!" Ralph shouted.

"You don't need to yell!" Vanellope shouted back.

Ralph just growled and scrubbed at his face with his hands.

"I was hoping we could have an actual conversation about this." Vanellope said quietly.

Ralph sighed. He could tell when he was being unreasonable, and now was one of those times. He was just upsetting her for no good reason. He went over and sat next to her on the bed. He looked at her with a self-deprecating smile.

"I'll try my best. I just..." Ralph paused. "It's a really difficult subject." He said in a sigh.

"It's not just me then?" Vanellope laughed.

"Says the girl who just plopped down on me and said 'hey let's talk about dating'." Ralph said mockingly.

"Oh, just... forget about all that for a minute, kay?" Vanellope said dismissively. "Ralph, more than anything else, all I really want to know is one thing. Why is it that the one person in the whole world I was closest to when I was little is the only one who seems to can't stand me now? Especially when everyone seems to think we should be closer than ever." Vanellope put plainly.

Ralph fidgeted and rubbed at his neck.

"Ralph..." Vanellope warned.

"Gimmie a minute. It's not as simple a question as it seems like." Ralph defended.

"Yeah, well you're the only one equipped to know." Vanellope said, not giving him much leeway. She scooted close and leaned on his shoulder, wrapping her arms loosely around his.

Ralph pointedly ignored her while he thought about the question. What could he say? He felt like he didn't really know the answer himself.

"I guess you just... make me uncomfortable." Ralph said finally.

"Uncomfortable? Why?" Vanellope asked. Ralph really didn't want to answer that.

"You're very inappropriate." Ralph said.

"Oh, I am not." Vanellope pouted.

"Normal girls do NOT just crawl into a bed with a guy. No matter how well they know him." Ralph pointed out.

"They do so, if they really like him. And I used to do that all the time when I was little." Vanellope said.

"You're just not... following the social guidelines I'm used to. It was perfectly fine to do that when you were little. You were little. Now you're all..." Ralph looked at her and gestured with his free hand.

"Are we on this again?" Vanellope whined.

"It's just that when a little girl snuggles up to a guy it's like 'awww, look at her. She's treating him like a big teddy bear. So cute.' But when a full grown one snuggles up to a guy it's got... completely different implications. Ones that I'm not sure you actually understand and ones I'm not sure I'm really ready to deal with even if you do." Ralph said in a panic. Trying to veer away from where they got stuck last time.

Vanellope got quite excited about this.

"Now we're back to where we were." She pointed out. "Dating. Those were the kinds of implications you were talking about, right?"

Ralph felt somewhat talked into a corner. There wasn't a lot of argument, at this point, about what Vanellope was getting at.

"It's the way you've been acting that makes people think that we're already dating, y'know." Ralph decided to point out.

"That's kind of your fault too." Vanellope countered.

Ralph thought about what Felix had told him. He had to concede that he wasn't really holding up his end of the deal when it came to finding a more platonic balance to the relationship. He was just as bad at this as Vanellope was.

"Mmm... I told you the way you acted needed to change, but I didn't think about how I should be treating you differently." Ralph mused.

"I don't want you to treat me different Ralph, that's the point!" Vanellope howled. "We _should_ be dating. If it wasn't a good idea everyone else wouldn't have already thought we were."

"Where's that line of reasoning coming from?" Ralph asked. He'd never heard of something so ridiculous.

"Crowd sourcing. You can almost always tell whose going to win a race by the crowd favorite. Ralph, we're the crowd favorite! Definitely a winning pair." Vanellope said, sounding very sure of her logic.

"You're weird." Ralph deadpanned.

"Doesn't mean I'm not right. C'mon Ralph, just give it a good think. You know I'm right." Vanellope coerced.

"How about..." Ralph started. Vanellope clutched at his arm tighter. "We just keep doing what we're doing, no matter what anyone else wants to call it, and see how that goes?" Ralph asked hesitantly.

He wasn't ready to commit to anything. He was too conflicted. But even with his weird sensibilities he didn't see anything wrong with what they'd been doing. As far as he was concerned that was just two friends hanging out. Until such time that he could figure himself out, if that was ever gonna happen.

Vanellope squealed and absolutely pounced on him.

"That's a yes! That's a yes! That's a yes!" She yelled, hugging him around the neck.

Before Ralph could even think to protest she'd grabbed his head and kissed him so fiercely his eyes crossed.

* * *

**A/N:** You guys probably didn't care all that much for this chapter. But you're liking me a lot more than you would've if I'd done what I originally planned to do with it. I was gonna have him just say NO. And then where would we be? Anyway, I thought this was funnier.

Review Response:

**newstorymaster213** - While that is a really good idea... it's just not gonna happen. Manga's are a ridiculous amount of work to do. Also I haven't even tried to draw Ralph. So... yeah. I like the idea, I just could never actually get it done.

**CraftyKeronian** - No, the upgrade didn't get rid off the glitch. I'm of the opinion it's her special tech. But I also have the idea that she can't do it out of her own game. I dunno why. I just think that's how it goes.


	15. Chapter 14: Date Night, Part 1

**A/N:** This chapter is short. Sorry.

* * *

**Chapter 14: Date Night, Part 1**

Vanellope was sulking. Ferociously, and with malicious intent. Or at least she would be, when she next saw Ralph. At the moment she was just sulking.

Her joy from the night before had been nipped in the bud rather quickly. After she had shared a wonderful kiss Ralph, he'd pulled her off with a stuttering rebuke.

"'I didn't say YES'... Stupid Ralph." She muttered with a frown. Her arms were crossed and she was slumped in her seat.

She mused on last night. Specifically the parts she liked. The parts she _really_ liked. Okay, just the kiss. She turned pink and giggled at the thought.

The kiss itself had been a relatively small action, and it hadn't lasted very long, but it was taking up all her attention. After she'd 'pounced' on him there had been quite a lot of movement. Ralph had flailed and struggled for about half a second. After which he'd put his hand around her waist and squeezed just a little while making a making a few sounds that had seemed pretty positive to her. Immediately after that he had pulled her off with a jerk. All this time he hadn't stopped the movement of his lips. This, more than even the noises she'd heard him make, made her sure he'd been enjoying himself. Best first kiss, ever.

Of course, then came the slightly worse part of the evening. Ralph had categorically explained that, no, they were not dating. That was NOT a yes, it was a MAYBE, for sometime in the future. That meant that kissing was not one of the things that would be well received.

Vanellope didn't believe a word of it. His initial reaction to the kiss told her very clearly that another one would be _quite_ well received. She just needed to be... clever about it.

As far as she was concerned they were dating. That's what everyone else was calling it. Oh sure, she knew that there were a few things missing. Kissing, in fact, was a good example. But she was going to work on that. Then everything would be perfect.

"Yay!" She quietly exclaimed. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be pouting.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

Ralph was already regretting his answer. It seemed like a simple enough idea. Just keep hanging out, let things progress naturally. He knew that things were going to go in that direction. He just needed to be ready for it.

Vanellope, on the other hand... She had, with an impulsiveness that he suspected only a teenager could possess, decided she was ready for anything. She'd made it rather clear with all the whining she'd done when he'd lectured her what sort of physical boundaries he was laying down with this. He had absolutely no faith that she was going to stick to any of them either. She was... incorrigible, especially when it came to annoying him. This was just going to be another line to dance on with her.

He should've just said no.

"She's always so hard to say no to..." Ralph complained to himself. Her new look hadn't helped in that matter at all. It just made him want to be more giggly and agreeable when giving her whatever she wanted.

He sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair.

After he stood there rubbing at his head for a minute a pounding started at his door.

"Raa~aaalph! Lemme in!" Vanellope's voice came from behind the door.

"Why don't you just use your 'magic'?" Ralph asked.

"A good magician never gives up her secrets!" Vanellope hollered. Ralph shook his head and let her in.

"Yay!" Vanellope attached herself to him in an eager hug. She nuzzled her cheek against his.

"Affectionate little thing, aren't you?" Ralph deadpanned.

"Mmm" Vanellope hummed in satisfied agreement.

"Get off me." Ralph said. Vanellope hopped down.

"I should be allowed to do that now. We're dating now." Vanellope stated matter-of-fact.

"No." Ralph replied. He didn't think that Vanellope was actually paying attention.

"Oh! You know what would be fun? Lets go to Tapper's and dance like Tammy and Felix do on date night!" Vanellope said with an excited little bounce.

"No." Ralph said more emphatically.

"What? That's a great idea, c'mon." Vanellope whined.

"We're not dating. I don't dance." Ralph said with a tone that said 'why isn't this obvious?'.

"Well let's go to Tapper's anyway. I'll think of something else if that's not fun." Vanellope insisted. Ralph raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't usually care much for Tapper's. She said the atmosphere made her tired because it was so slow. Or 'leisurely' as the patrons put it.

"I'm not going to dance." Ralph warned.

"Yeah, sure. That's fine." Vanellope readily agreed. "_We'll see about that._" She thought privately.

"Alright, we'll go to Tapper's." Ralph conceded.

"Yay, let's go!" Vanellope cheered as she dragged Ralph out the door.

Ralph had a feeling this was another thing he was gonna wish he'd said no to.

* * *

**A/N:** Now you see why it's short. I just HAD to end it there. xD

Review Response:

**Wreck It Ralph** - Well, Vanellope's little racing world is considerably smaller. So maybe it's more valid? Or maybe she's just delusional.

**Blak-Ice** - Vanellope _always_ gets her way. Even Ralph knows this.

**Whencaniseeyouagain** - I think you guys might just have to give up on the manga idea. Like I said, it's not that it's not a good one, and it's not that I don't like it. There are just a ton of reasons I can't do it. Maybe when I get farther into the story I'll reconsider?

**jeh-nee** - Ralph has a hard time actually denying Vanellope anything. He just didn't have the will to weasel his way out of a direction questioning. It's actually why he caved in to the relationship status. He knew she wanted it, even though he's not as comfortable with it as he appears.


	16. Chapter 15: Date Night, Part 2

**A/N: **I meant to have this chapter out sooner... Have I explained about my attention span yet?

* * *

**Chapter 15: Date Night, Part 2**

There was a small crowd at Tapper's, like always. People milling about, people at the bar, even a few people on the dance floor. Felix and Calhoun were at the back bar talking quietly, Calhoun was bent low so they could talk close. Ralph would've been surprised to see them, but they had a 'date night' just about every other day so it wasn't that odd. Vanellope dragged Ralph over to the empty seats next to them.

"Hey Ralph, Vanellope. How're you doing tonight?" Felix asked, sounding ever delighted to see them.

"Mmmm..." Ralph said, like he wasn't sure. Vanellope poked him in the side.

"Pretty good." Vanellope replied.

"So, what brings you to Tapper's this fine evening?" Calhoun asked.

"Dancing!" Vanellope answered enthusiastically.

"No." Ralph said quickly afterwords.

"Dancing at Tapper's?" Calhoun asked. "Are you stealing our date night?" She teased.

"Yep." Vanellope said cheerfully. Ralph just slid onto a bar stool with an annoyed sigh and ordered a root beer.

"What? No, don't order drinks yet. Those are for when you're really thirsty after dancing." Vanellope informed as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung to him.

"I told you I wasn't going to dance." Ralph said firmly. Vanellope just made a whiny sound.

A peppy sort of song started coming out of the jukebox and Vanellope looked up.

"Well, you're a jerk and I'm gonna go dance without you. Kay?" Vanellope said. Ralph just casually sipped at his drink. Vanellope made a face at him and went off.

After a moment Felix broke the silence.

"Sooo?" Felix asked Ralph.

"So what?" Ralph asked.

"What's up with you and half-pint over there?" Calhoun asked bluntly.

"Nothing more than usual." Ralph answered.

"So what's with her sudden... behavior?" Felix asked. Ralph rolled his eyes and resigned himself to having to tell them.

"She's convinced herself that we're dating now." Ralph said in annoyance.

"Ralph! I told you you had to-!" Felix started.

"I DID. We had a very long talk about all this yesterday. I _told_ her we weren't dating but you know how she is. When she gets an idea in her head..." Ralph explained.

"How did she get the idea you were dating?" Calhoun asked.

"I dunno. It's probably half my fault and half the fault of whoever explained the concept to her. I don't think they explained it all that well." Ralph said. "When she asked what we should do last night I said to just keep going as we were..."

"And she said that that was agreeing to actually date." Calhoun finished, reasoning her way through it. Ralph nodded. Felix got a fit of the giggles.

"It's not funny. This is a real problem." Ralph insisted.

"Ralph, you're so dense." Felix laughed.

"Oh shut up." Ralph grumbled.

All this time, both Calhoun and Felix noticed, Ralph hadn't taken his eyes off of Vanellope. Oh, he was putting up a good front, for him, but the corner of his eyes were clearly locked on.

Vanellope, bless her, was putting on quite a show. It was difficult not to watch her. She'd found a group of girls to dance with and they were burning up the dance floor. With each twirl her long hair flew up into the air like an attention getting flag. Each flick and swing of her hips made her skirt reflect the dim lights.

Everyone watched her with interest, particularly the group of men who'd just entered.

Calhoun, with her military training, picked up on the situation immediately. She had to wonder if Vanellope hadn't planned it.

"Things are about it get interesting..." Calhoun said quietly with a smirk. She took a swig of her drink to muffle a chuckle.

Ralph wasn't paying attention to the men... yet. He wasn't noticing much of anything, if he were honest. All of Vanellope's little attention getting movements were doing their job on him just as much as anyone else.

"Hey... Ryu." Ken nudged. Ryu, who'd been starting to head over to the bar, looked at his cohort.

"What?" Ryu said, annoyed at being interrupted. When Ken just pointed at the dance floor he followed the line of sight. The group of women dancing there caught his eye. Especially the one in the middle doing all the more... exuberant moves. He gave a low whistle.

"Wow."

"Yeah... less thirsty now." Ken said, then headed to the dance floor.

It was about this time that Ralph noticed that something was up. When a handful of men approached the group on the dance floor the little spell broke and he started paying more attention to the situation and less attention to just Vanellope. He recognized the guys as the Street Fighter gang. Ken, Ryu, and a couple of others. While they were just looking he wasn't too wary, but then...

Ken went right into the middle of the group of girls on the floor and grabbed Vanellope's hand. Without hesitating he pulled her arm up and twirled her around. Vanellope stumbled a little and fell against him, causing Ken to smile. Ralph tensed at that.

Calhoun looked away from the dance floor to catch Ralph's reaction to this development. Ralph's hands were clenched and resting on either side of his glass mug as if he didn't trust himself to pick it up. His eyes were narrowed just a little and locked on the dance floor. He was working his jaw a little to prevent it from tensing up.

Ralph felt himself tense up as he watched Vanellope interacting with Ken. She'd had a shocked expression on her face for half a moment after he'd spun her around but she recovered quickly. She then started chatting with him, smiling cheerfully like always. Apparently they'd agreed on dancing, because they then proceeded to. Ralph had never been so truly... agitated. He supposed it would've been okay if she'd danced with him the same way she'd danced with the girls. Ken was getting really close, and hips were swaying more... there seemed to be an inordinate amount of touching.

"I can hear your teeth grinding Wreck-it." Calhoun said with a smirk. Ralph blinked and willed his eyes away from the dance floor. He glanced at Calhoun and then proceeded to stare at his drink as if it'd offended him in some way.

"_You could stop it, y'know..._" A voice in his head, that sounded suspiciously like Felix, said in a whisper. Ralph glanced at Felix for a second just to make sure he hadn't spoken. "_Just go dance with her._" Ralph just sighed and continued to stare into his drink more. Willfully ignoring it.

After a while Vanellope came back.

"Geez, it's hot in here." Vanellope said in a breathless voice. She peeled off her hoodie and placed it over the bar stool next to Ralph. She stood on the wrung of Ralph's bar stool and leaned over one of his shoulders to grab his root beer from between his hands. She raised it to her lips and tilted her head back to take a long swig.

Ralph froze up at the view this afforded him. Her neck was stretched and her shoulders bent back just far enough to stretch her shirt tight over... Ralph coughed and looked away.

"How was the dancing?" Calhoun asked. Ralph narrowed his eyes a little, glaring at her.

"It's fun. Ken's a really good dancer." Vanellope said, breathing heavily after a large gulp. She put the glass down on the bar heavily.

"He offered to buy me a drink, but I knew I could just come over and get some of yours." Vanellope said to Ralph. She hugged him around the shoulders before hopping off of his bar stool and sitting on her own.

"Or all of it?" Ralph asked, examining the empty glass pointedly.

"It was warm anyway, you should thank me." Vanellope dismissed with a wave. "I'm just taking a break cause I got so hot, I'll probably go dance some more in a minute after I cool off."

Ralph carefully _didn't_ growl at this.

He thought on the situation very carefully. There were probably a few ways to deal with this. He could just leave, or he could be upset and probably end up making a scene, or he could wait it out and then try to calmly explain to Vanellope that that was not how someone who claimed to be a girlfriend acted, or...

"_Or you could just dance with her!_" The voice insisted again, sounding more annoyed this time. Apparently it didn't approve of any of his solutions. He couldn't say he blamed it, he didn't like any of them much either.

Ralph continued to mull over this as Vanellope had a drink to cool off and chatted with Felix and Calhoun. After a moment Vanellope looked over in the direction of the dance floor. Ken was heading this way. Ralph looked at him and then over to Vanellope, who looked awfully eager.

"So, you wanna dance?" Ralph asked Vanellope quickly, before his brain could think better of it and try to trip him up. Vanellope just looked at him, completely stunned. His brain caught up with him and started to panic.

"_She doesn't want to._" it thought. "_She'd rather be dancing with Ken. I mean, he's smaller, and he's bound to be less awkward. You saw him dancing, his stupid martial arts makes him flawless. Even if she says yes you know you're going to make an ass of yourself. Why did you even-_"

Vanellope's squeal of delight broke through his panic attack.

"Of course!" Vanellope almost yelled in his ear.

Before any protest could be made she was bounding over to the dance floor, dragging a very reluctant Wreck-It Ralph behind her.

* * *

**A/N:** Heeee, so cute. Next chapter "The Dance". Yes, yes, I think it needs it's own chapter... maybe.  
Anyway, my attention span isn't solely to blame for this chapter being a little later than I intended. (I know, I know, you're all going "What? This is a LATE chapter?") Actually, I finished the Vanellope picture. You can find it under the same keywords as before (because I'm too lazy to change the tags) at DeviantArt: "Nekuyo Vanellope adult design sketch". Should pull it up no problem.

Review Response: OMG there are so many of you this time. 21 reviews guys! 21!

**The Phantom Soldier**- Thank you! And yes, cuteness always prevails over logic.

**When can i see you again** - I saw that little TV Spot! It's so cute, I wish I knew what she was saying. Also, I promise to keep the manga idea on the back burner. Maybe I'll try drawing Ralph next and see how that goes.

**jeh-nee** - Deeeeep deep down Ralph isn't even thinking about it. It's practically already a law of the universe. It's only his conscious mind that's having a hard time.

**KCRedPanda98** - Yeah, I was trying to find a story like this too. Alas, to quote the first chapter "When you want to do something right..."

**BoredParanoia** - I'm gonna admit, I didn't see this coming either. This was going to be a drama when I first envisioned it. It makes me sort of glad that I don't plan out my fanfics very far in advance. I'd miss all this good stuff if I did.


	17. Chapter 16: The Dance

**A/N:** It's Dancey Dancey time!

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Dance**

Ralph let himself be dragged out onto the dance floor. He'd never actually been out on it before. The first thing he noticed was that the music was louder over here. Not much, since Tapper's was a quiet place, but a little. The floor was smoother and well worn. It had a different sort of finish on it, presumably to help prevent scuff marks.

"Are you just gonna stand there or are we gonna dance?" Vanellope said with a snicker.

"Umm..." Ralph hesitated.

"What?" Vanellope asked as she swung Ralph's arms a little.

"I just remembered that I don't know how to dance." Ralph explained.

"Ahhhh, it's easy. If you just sort of move around and start shuffling your feet then the rest of it comes on it's own." Vanellope dismissed.

Ralph looked at her skeptically. He somehow doubted it would be that easy for him.

"C'mon. I'm a good dancer. Just let me lead. I'll teach you." Vanellope said. She put her arms over his and grabbed his elbows with her hands.

"Uhh..."Ralph thought. Before he could agree Vanellope was already starting to jerk him around. He stumbled as she pulled him around the dance floor in weird zig-zaggy circular motions. He couldn't get a handle on the motions she was trying to take him in because every time she changed direction he'd trip over his own feet.

"Ralph, you've got to pay _some_ attention." Vanellope admonished.

"I'm – trying." Ralph said haltingly as he caught himself again. "It's just not easy as you make it look." He said with a frown and a nervous breathy laugh.

"Alright, alright. Let's try something a little easier." Vanellope conceded. She slowed down and changed her movements into a slightly slower and more predictable pattern.

Ralph found that his feet could follow these movements, but he was having a hard time finding the will. The types of movements Vanellope was making this time were swishy and swaying. She rolled her hips, and her shoulders, and kept moving her whole body in undulating circular motions. That was even more distracting than having to stumble around.

"_This just isn't working._" Ralph thought with a frustrated sigh. Sometime in his distraction the music was starting to slow down.

The music melted into a calm, symphonic, sounding song. Ralph liked this one better than whatever had been on before. It wasn't filled with a lot of conflicting sounds that hid the rhythm, and it was slow enough that Ralph felt he could probably keep up with it. He looked at Vanellope, who had stopped moving. She looked a little pink, but it was hard to tell in this light.

"What?" Ralph asked.

"We don't have to dance to this one if you don't want to." She said shyly. "I mean... slows songs..." She trailed off.

Ralph felt his heart skip a beat. Vanellope's seldom shown shy and unsure side was showing through. Ralph could never stand it when that happened. That vulnerable look had the effect of making her ten times more adorable. So when Vanellope raised her eyes to him shyly...

"No... I think I can probably handle this one." Ralph said confidently. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Vanellope stumbled and fell against him. Vanellope made a small squeaky sound as they came together.

Ralph actually only had a little idea of what he was doing, and in the back of his mind he was praying fervently that he wouldn't trip over or step on Vanellope's feet. But he knew what slow dancing looked like, and he was pretty sure he could do at least the basics. The shuffling of feet, the somewhat back and forth motion, it wasn't anything strange like they'd been attempting before. Vanellope, despite never actually taking her eyes off of Ralph's face, easily followed the movements of his feet without much thought.

This wasn't the stumbling around the floor that they had been doing. This was actual dancing. Ralph was _dancing_ with her. Really incredibly well too considering how terrible he'd been doing just a moment before.

"_We're really dancing!_" Vanellope thought with silent excitement. She bit her lip as she smiled up at Ralph. He hadn't stopped looking at her this entire time and she was slowly turning bright red. After a moment she couldn't stand it any more and stuffed her face into his chest. The back of her neck was hot and tingly. She heard Ralph's breath stutter and was pretty sure he was laughing at her, but she didn't care.

Without thinking about it, their steps made a smooth transition from small and shuffling to wide and flowing. They danced a slow circle round the dance floor, side stepping the sparse few dancing couples that were occupying the floor as well. Ralph was getting more sure of his steps.

Neither of them really wanted to let go of the moment, so when the music changed to something faster paced they just kept going. Ralph loosened his grip on Vanellope's waist and gave their upper bodies a little more range of movement. Vanellope felt her back bend over Ralph's arm gently. Vanellope put her hands on Ralph's shoulders and felt his hand rest on her hip.

Once he'd gotten a sort of confidence into his steps Ralph wasn't half bad at dancing. Maybe not very graceful, but he looked self assured. He and Vanellope made for an impressive sight.

After a bit they got a little more enthusiastic. Ralph even dared to try more than one spin, which, thanks to Vanellope, came off looking flawless whether or not they were. Before too long they were going so fast that Vanellope was giggling and starting to trip over herself just a little, relying on Ralph to catch her.

"Ralph!" Vanellope giggled excitedly. Finally near the end of the current song, when Vanellope had stumbled again when coming back from another twirl, Vanellope just used her momentum and jumped into Ralph's arms. She threw her head back and laughed out loud when Ralph caught her. She was breathing heavy and sweating again, but Ralph had barely broken a sweat.

When Vanellope looked down at Ralph's face and her bangs fell to shade her eyes and face just a little... That's when Ralph went breathless.

* * *

**A/N:** I was going to put quite a bit more in this chapter... But then that line. I just couldn't resist it. That had to be the last line.

Review Response:

**KCRedPanda98** - Don't be scared to start a fanfic just because you don't think you'll finish it. I don't think I've ever finished a fanfic, and I never let that stop me.


	18. Chapter 17: Innuendo

**A/N: **Next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Innuendo**

Vanellope moaned as Ralph kissed her, pressing her up against the wall in the secluded back hallway of Tapper's. His hand ran it's way up her thigh as he moved his lips down to kiss her neck. She trembled and gasped and arched up off the wall. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and –

"Ralph?" Vanellope asked.

Ralph snapped out of it and his eyes refocused on the sight before him.

They were still on the dancefloor. Vanellope was still in his arms and looking down at him, a little more concerned than euphoric like she had been a minute ago. She was breathing heavily still, and her legs were clenched tightly around his waist.

Ralph blushed at his uncharacteristically x-rated train of thought.

"You okay?" Vanellope asked.

Ralph had been fine just a minute ago, she was sure. He hadn't even broken a sweat while they were dancing. Then his eyes had glazed over for a moment. When he'd started to breath heavily she'd been a little concerned. She was pretty sure it wasn't because of added weight.

"Umm..." Ralph cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. Wanna go sit down for a bit?"

"Okay." Vanellope answered. Ralph set her down gently, then let her lead the way back to the bar.

When they got back to their seats Calhoun was smirking like a cat who ate the canary. Ralph ignored her.

"_Trust her to just _know_ that sort of thing..._" Ralph thought. He was fairly sure no one else had noticed. Calhoun had a heightened sense of perception because of her weird soldier programming.

"Ralph, I never knew you could dance." Felix said, sounding amiably impressed.

"Me neither." Ralph replied.

"We should do this all the time!" Vanellope exclaimed. She took a large swig of the drink Ralph had ordered.

"You mean like double dating?" Felix mused.

"Yeah!" "No!" Vanellope and Ralph answered at the same time.

"Aww, why not Ralph? You certainly _looked_ like you were having a good time." Calhoun teased.

"Oh, you wouldn't mind having your date night intruded on?" Ralph challenged.

"Touché." Calhoun conceded.

"Oh, we wouldn't mind at all." Felix answered eagerly. Calhoun lightly cuffed him on the head.

"But I like dancing." Vanellope insisted. "Oooh! We could go dancing at DDR instead!" She said in excitement at her idea.

"Noooo!" Ralph protested. "I can't stand that place."

"Why?" Vanellope asked.

"It's too loud." Ralph insisted.

"It isn't." Vanellope said.

"I don't like the music either." Ralph went on. "I bet they never play slow songs." He reasoned.

Vanellope turned pink at that and smiled shyly into her mug.

"I'm sure we can find other ways to occupy the time." Ralph assured. Then paused as he realized the innuendo. Calhoun snickered.

"We could dance at my place." Vanellope offered. "There wouldn't be a crowd or anything, we'd be alone and could dance however we wanted."

Ralph face palmed as Calhoun started giggling. Felix, wisely, said nothing.

"What'd I say?" Vanellope asked. All three of the others just shook their heads.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

Later that night Vanellope dropped Ralph off at Fix-It Felix Jr. It was getting on towards dawn and almost time for the arcade to open, but there was a little time to spare.

"I had a lot of fun tonight." Vanellope said, trying not to sound silly and shy about it. But then again, it was their first 'date' so maybe she was allowed.

"I'm glad." Ralph said.

"You're supposed to say 'I had a good time too'." Vanellope admonished with a pout.

"It was alright." Ralph replied. Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"You just never give an inch!, do you? Vanellope protested, causing Ralph to chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah alright. I had a good time too." Ralph admitted.

Ralph patted Vanellope on the head and leaned down a little to kiss her on the forehead as a goodbye. Vanellope, seeing the cues, wasn't going to have any of that. Just as Ralph bent just a little she got up on her tiptoes and angled her head upwards.

Ralph froze for a split second as his lips met Vanellope's. The sudden impact and the change in the atmosphere of their interaction caught him off guard. He'd _thought_ they'd been having a cute little friendly moment...

His brain caught up to the moment and realized he should probably be protesting this... But the rest of him vetoed. Ralph moved his hand from the top of Vanellope's head to the side and tilted it into a better position to deepen the kiss.

Vanellope brought her hands up Ralph's shoulders and squeezed. Her legs were getting a little wobbly. She felt Ralph's other arm wrap around her waist and sighed happily at the sensation. It made her feel so safe. She leaned a little into the embrace as Ralph squeezed.

They stayed like this for a moment and then-

"Eep!" Vanellope yelped as she jumped away.

"What?" Ralph asked, sounding as startled as Vanellope looked.

"You just..." Vanellope seemed like she didn't know how to put it. She was holding her bottom like she'd hurt it somehow...

"Ah." Ralph said after a moment, realizing what had happened. Vanellope was looking up at him, confusion and upset all over her face. Ralph honestly didn't know what to say to this.

The first thought that came to mind was that he thought it was ridiculous that she seemed to be objecting to this, admittedly somewhat unintentional, action on his part, considering her behavior. But then again...

They both just stood there awkwardly.

Ralph got a brilliant idea. He raised his hand dramatically, looked at it very crossly, and lightly slapped it with his other hand.

Vanellope giggled despite herself. Ralph gave her a reassuring smile.

"Won't do it again." He stated with confidence.

Vanellope didn't think that wasn't exactly the answer to the problem she wanted, but didn't know what her other options were.

"Good night Ralph." Vanellope said with a smile.

"Night, you goob." Ralph replied as Vanellope headed to her kart.

Ralph closed the door to his little house and leaned against it as he heard Vanellope drive away.

"Ralph, you are such an idiot." He said to himself with conviction. "You really need to stop this."

* * *

**A/N:** You guys all kept making Vanellope out to be this weird temptress, I just thought I'd undercut that she's NOT.  
This chapter actually was a little late. I spent all day drawing today instead.

I'm too tired for review response this time. It's like 3 AM. Sorry guys.


	19. Chapter 18: Speculation

**A/N:** Nothin' to say, nothin' to say.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Speculation**

Vanellope was trying to very casually catch a glimpse of her backside in one of the reflective surfaces on the candy stands. It was nearly time for the arcade to open, so she didn't have time to go up to the castle and find a discreet mirror. She jumped and tried to look normal when Taffyta came up.

"Soo..." Taffyta said with a grin.

"Sooooo, what?" Vanellope said in reply. Taffyta looked at her like she was impossible.

"Candlehead heard Snowanna talking to someone else about how she'd heard that you and Ralph were dancing at Tapper's. They said that you two were getting really... worked up. Soo... dish." Taffyta explained.

"...Oh." Vanellope replied.

This seemed like a really weird request. She seemed to know the basics of what had happened, what else did she want to know? Taffyta, seeing that Vanellope was confused, went on. Hoping to spur Vanellope into conversation.

"They said that it kinda looked like Ralph got all... excited." Taffyta said with a sly smile. "Did anything happen?"

Vanellope thought about what had happened a few hours ago when she and Ralph had been dancing. She couldn't think of anything particularly interesting that had happened in that time frame. Nothing really interesting had happened until after she'd gotten him home.

"C'mon sweetie. It's called 'kiss and tell'. Are you gonna or not?" Taffyta asked in exasperation.

"Oh!" Vanellope finally understood. "Yeah, sure, kissing. There was some of that." Vanellope answered.

"Great! Tell me all about it." Taffyta demanded, happy for having progressed the conversation.

"Umm... well..." Vanellope hesitated.

"Have you hit another snag?" Taffyta asked. "No wait, I know. It was really bad. I've noticed his breath, I bet that's a real turn off." Taffyta guessed.

"What? No!" Vanellope insisted. "His breath is fine! Err... well, you get used to it. It wasn't that, the kiss itself was fine." Vanellope rambled.

"So, what's with the face?" Taffyta asked.

"It's just... while he was kissing me. He, umm... squeezed." Vanellope said.

Taffyta looked at her, confused, for a moment. That really could've meant anything. But then Vanellope gestured a little and she got it.

"You mean your butt?" Taffyta asked, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"Yeah. Is that weird?" Vanellope asked quickly. It'd really bugged her at the time, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Of course not. That's practically just an automatic reaction. Especially if you guys were getting kinda heavy." Taffyta dismissed.

"Oh..." Vanellope deflated. Had she screwed up? "Why do guys do that anyway?"

Taffyta shrugged automatically, then answered.

"I dunno. I guess it's because it's soft, and having a handle on it means they can push your hips closer."

"Hips?" Vanellope questioned. Suddenly the anatomy portion of the plugs and the sockets came back to her. She blushed completely red.

"Musta been a really good kiss, huh?" Taffyta smirked.

Before Vanellope could say much in reply a quarter alert sounded from the bullhorn.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

Ralph had to admit it, he was distracted.

His mind was mostly on Vanellope, and ways to dissuade her from her current course of action. Of course, as per usual, the part of his mind that wasn't occupied with that was thinking about their last kiss and when they might repeat it. He was always so conflicted.

Getting back on his immediate train of thought, he pondered the situation at hand in order to sway his own thinking in one way or the other. He'd kissed Vanellope. Not exactly intentionally at first, but also not reluctantly after it had happened.

Very not reluctantly. The very opposite of reluctant. He'd been totally into it.

"_Clearly over that bit were I thought this was all weird..._" Ralph thought in annoyance.

But when things had gone just a little past a quick kiss Vanellope had panicked. This reaction sort of undercut what Ralph had been thinking this whole time. Vanellope was still really young, and just a little naive, even despite her talk with Calhoun. The one Ralph refused to think about.

Ralph was coming to a simple conclusion, but he didn't really like it. Vanellope was just using this as another way to tease him. Not to be intentionally malicious or anything, she was just like that in general. If she found something that bugged him she would quite often exploit it. He evidenced this with the idea that her actions spoke volumes. She seemed to very much like kissing him and climbing all over him, but at his first sign of actual interest she'd jumped back.

Theoretically, the easiest thing to do about this, would be to draw a line somewhere. Anywhere. Specifically one where he wouldn't get unwillingly molested. But he was, of course, talking about Vanellope. She made setting any type of rule impossible.

So what he'd probably end up doing, unfortunately, is just putting up with it. Like he did with everything else Vanellope did. But this came with the caveat that he could never retaliate. Which sounded, to his brain, like cruel and unusual punishment. He was pretty sure he'd like this scenario to end up in any other way than that.

He was stumped. There honestly didn't seem to be any clear solution. Apart from, maybe, avoiding her like the plague. But that hadn't really worked before, so he didn't think it would work this time either.

He suddenly thought of another daunting prospect. He might actually have to talk to Vanellope about all this. About her actions and how they were effecting him.

"_Oh god..._" Ralph thought.

A quarter alert sounded and Ralph hurried into position.

"I'm gonna wreck it!" Ralph exclaimed as his line came up. Although the game clearly meant the building... Ralph was wondering if he didn't really mean something else entirely.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh no~! Ralph! Say it isn't so! You actually have to TALK to her?! OMGOMGOMG! ... And I'm freaking out just as much because I've got to write it. Stupid talking scenes, with characters who are all socially awkward.

Anyway, I got the impression that everyone was thinking that Vanellope was all... temptress-y because of some of the reviews I got, along the lines of "Oh Vanellope, she's so tricksy! She's gonna make Ralph kiss her! hee hee hee!" So yeah... my mistake I guess.

Umm... I guess that's the only review response I've got. You were all quite adamant about how I was wrong about you all thinking like that. Oh wait, I take it back.

**jeh-nee** - No! Ralph is way too straight laced and boring to be kinky!... yet. He just squeezed her butt. Which is, in my experience, just the reaction guys have to kissing. I've yet to meet a guy who wouldn't in that situation. Even if they deny it in comments.

** Madame Octopi** - I have incited the feels? Really? That's such a compliment. xD I'm glad you like the story so much.


	20. Chapter 19: Pondering

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter is late. But if you watch the news at all I don't have to tell you how distracted I was. I wasn't personally effected, since I live in New Mexico, but still...

* * *

**Chapter 19: Pondering**

Ralph spent forever rehearsing what he was going to say. No matter how many times he said it, even just to himself, he kept stumbling over the four most direct and basic words he could put it in.

"I'm... I'm attrac-" Ralph coughed as he choked on the word. "-acked to you." He finished.

It was sad, but that was the best he'd been able to do all day.

He suspected it might be a little easier if he'd had to say it in a different context. But the way things were... It was something he had to admit to, not something he could just say. It had to be a warning.

"I'm a...at-attracted to you, and what you're doing is sending the wrong signals. So if you don't stop something might happen." Ralph said, trying to think aloud

That sounded too incredibly stupid, or maybe just too embarrassing, to say out loud ever again.

He thought about working on another part of the speech. He almost had the 'your actions have effects on other people' part of it down. It was just the explanation and the follow through he was having a hard time with.

Ralph sighed as he mulled it all over. He wished, not for the first time, that this was something that he just didn't have to explain.

+++[And then...]+++

At the end of the working day Ralph was sort of concerned. Vanellope actually hadn't been to visit him for a while. After the first day or so he was feeling sort of relieved. It had given him time to go over everything in his head and practice what he wanted to say. But now it'd been nearly a week. It was unlike her to not show up randomly about twice in that time period. They didn't have any officially set times to spend together, but they'd sort of fallen into a predictable schedule. One that they didn't break very often.

Was she avoiding him?

It seemed possible. Maybe she had figured out more than he'd given her credit for? She could be attempting to avoid him in her own effort to make him less uncomfortable. The idea was good, but the execution was a little flawed. He didn't like the avoidance thing any more than she did when he'd tried it on her.

He resolved to take his nap and stop thinking about it for right now. If she didn't show up today than he was going to go talk to her in Sugar Rush.

+++[Sugar Rush...]+++

Vanellope had been spending the last few days at home. Not deliberately avoiding Ralph, but she knew that that was an aftereffect of what she was doing. She just had too much to think about. There was something she'd gotten wrong in all of this. It'd taken her a while to figure it out, but she was sure she had this time.

She hadn't considered a lot of things about what Calhoun had told her. Calhoun had told her that she'd explain Ralph's initial weird behavior, and the very first thing she'd talked about was...

Vanellope blushed and put her head in her hands. How did she ever get so stupid? Ralph thought she was... he wanted to...

"_That's what everyone was talking about!_" Vanellope thought in anguish. "_That's why everyone said I had to start acting different._"

It was discouraging to get something so wrong. Why couldn't anyone just have said it plainly? Then she wouldn't have been so stupid about all of it. She didn't really know what to do about it now. It seemed too embarrassing to talk to Ralph about.

What was Ralph thinking right now anyway? Did he actually want to, or did he just think she wanted to? She knew how easily he caved in when he thought she really wanted something... Or did he know that she just didn't know what was going on? That seemed just as bad, but she sort of hoped for it.

She had to talk to him. She really REALLY didn't want to. But now that she'd figured it all out, she had to know where they stood. Even if Ralph knew that she'd been wrong, it would just prove that Ralph always had all the answers. Not only that, but she knew he'd be understanding about all of it.

She got up to go to Fix-It Felix Jr. Now that she'd decided to talk to him she couldn't put it off.

+++[Fix-It Felix Jr.]+++

Vanellope got to Ralph's house and nearly barged in the door. Or nearly tried, she was pretty sure the door was probably locked anyway, but she stopped herself before she attempted to turn the knob. She wanted to display a sort of changed behavior. It wouldn't do to just barge in and deposit herself on Ralph like she was used to.

She knocked on the door, sans hollering or whining. It felt a little awkward, to be honest.

Ralph opened the door, looking a little tired. His tired went immediately to surprised.

"I was wondering where you went off to." Ralph said, opening the door wider to let her in.

"I just needed to think about... stuff." Vanellope said meaningfully.

"I take it I'm going to be hearing about this 'stuff'?" Ralph guessed.

"Umm... yeah." Vanellope answered. She sat down on the bed, because there was nowhere else to sit.

Ralph looked at her with concern. She supposed she must look a little distressed.

"What's wrong?" Ralph asked. He sat down next to her, but not too close she noticed.

"Ralph, you want to have sex with me, don't you?" Vanellope asked plainly.

Ralph's brain proceeded to lock up.

* * *

**A/N:** This was short, but I can't resist a build up chapter like that. Good news is the next chapter title is "Confessions" . I'll let you ruminate on that. It might not be out on time due to the fast we have guests tonight, and my computer is our source of entertainment.


	21. Chapter 20: Confessions

**A/N: **I'll admit it. This chapter didn't go the way I meant for it to... but it made sense as I was writing it.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Confessions**

"I... think maybe you've missed a few steps between here and there." Ralph said as his brain started to work again.

"But that's the idea, right?" Vanellope insisted.

"Why don't... why don't you explain the thought process here? Then maybe I'll understand what you're getting at." Ralph offered.

"Well, it's just..." Vanellope started. She scratched her chin as she thought about where to start.

"This started with... 'The Talk' that Tammy gave me..." Vanellope started.

"It took you this long to jump to that conclusion from there?" Ralph asked.

"Not exactly." Vanellope answered. "She explained sex, and at the time she said that that sort of explained why you were acting the way you were, and why I should act different than what I did when I was little. It made a little bit of sense. But at the time all I could think of is that I didn't want anything to change. But about that time Taffyta and Rancis started dating and when I saw how Rancis was treating her I just... I just really wanted that. I didn't think at ALL about why people date. I just knew that I liked how I saw other people, who were dating, acting with each other. And I wanted that... With you." Vanellope said.

"Alright... following it so far." Ralph prompted.

"And Taffyta explained dating to me. Everyone already thought we were dating anyway, so I had to ask the difference between what we were actually doing and dating. The only real difference seemed to be little things like kissing and touching and that sort of thing. But it's supposed to change when you've been dating for a while, isn't it?" Vanellope asked.

"Not always." Ralph answered, understanding what she was getting at.

"But _usually_." Vanellope insisted. Not backing down on the point.

"Not after just one date." Ralph pointed out.

"No..." Vanellope agreed. "But the way you acted... " Vanellope started.

"You notice the weirdest things." Ralph said with exasperated disbelief.

"Am I right though?" Vanellope asked. "You do want to-"

"Please don't say it again." Ralph said quickly, sounding a little pained.

Ralph sighed and wiped his face, thinking very carefully about how to respond to all of this. It explained a lot, and made him feel a little better about the whole thing. Vanellope's somewhat narrow-minded view of dating needed to be corrected.

"Vanellope, just because someone finds you attractive, doesn't automatically mean they want to jump into bed with you. I... won't deny that some of your actions have put the thought in my head, but that's not the same as actively attempting it." Ralph clarified. Noting, with a twinge of success, that if he put it objectively, he was able to get through the attraction part.

"But I didn't _mean_ to put the thoughts in your head." Vanellope said mournfully.

"I believe you." Ralph assured. "It's not really your fault anyhow, it's mine."

"What?" Vanellope asked.

"They're my thoughts, not yours." Ralph reasoned.

Vanellope had to think about that one.

"I don't think that's exactly how that works." Vanellope said with a frown.

"No, it's not." Ralph agreed, suddenly remembering his issues with the whole thing. "But it's not completely your fault either."

Vanellope leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. She suddenly stiffened as she realized what she was doing. When Ralph just rubbed her shoulder she started to relax.

"I don't know what to do." Vanellope said miserably.

Ralph gave a frustrated sigh. He really hated having to explain things. He couldn't fathom why Vanellope thought he was so good at it. This was doubly hard since it involved him so closely. It was really hard to be impartial about this.

"I _think_... It depends on what sort of relationship you're hoping to get out of this." Ralph strained to say. Vanellope just sat there looking confused.

"What?" Vanellope said after thinking about it for a moment.

Ralph tried to think this through.

"What we've both been forgetting, is that we're both the same people. I forgot it a little earlier on than you did, but still..." Ralph started. "There's no reason our relationship has to change at all if that's not what you want." Ralph said. _Especially since I've stopped being stupid_, he didn't add. Particularly since that still seemed debatable.

"Hmm..." Vanellope screwed up her face. "I don't like that one. Try again."

Ralph paused. That... wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

"There's no reason that dating has to be about a physical relationship." Ralph tried again.

"Hmm..." Vanellope hummed, sounding like she didn't like that one either.

"This might be something you have to figure out on your own." Ralph said before she could object to that last idea.

There was a moment of silence where Ralph could tell Vanellope was thinking really hard. He just kept his arm around her and let her think it out. After a moment Vanellope shifted so that she could look at Ralph's face.

"What do _you_ want to do?" Vanellope asked, sounding surprised that she hadn't thought to ask before.

"...What?" Ralph asked, hoping his brain wasn't going to stall again.

"Well, you have an opinion about this too, don't you?" Vanellope asked, like it was completely obvious.

"Y-yes..." Ralph confirmed hesitantly.

"Well, what is it?" Vanellope asked again. She sat up straight again, to better see his face.

"I don't..." Ralph started.

"Ralph, will you just tell me?" Vanellope pleaded.

"Vanellope, my opinion just isn't as important in this matter as yours is." Ralph tried to explain.

"But I want to hear it anyway." Vanellope insisted.

"I don't want to influence your decision." Ralph tried again.

Vanellope, rather than another verbal protest, punched Ralph in the arm.

"Ow." Ralph complained halfheartedly. He rubbed his arm, more out of nerves than pain. There was an awkward moment where he could feel himself blushing again.

"I guess if it were up to me," Ralph thought aloud. "I'd like to try dating. With the idea that,_ maybe_ a physical relationship might come out of it...eventually. Maybe."

"Why?" Vanellope asked. Ralph blinked, not expecting that question.

"Well... We get along well, I already know that I like spending time with you, and you're good loo-" Ralph coughed, apparently still not able to admit to it.

"Good looking?" Vanellope asked with a sly grin. Ralph looked away, blushing to match his overalls.

"Yeah, that." He said quickly.

Ralph coughed, he could feel Vanellope's ridiculously pleased grin on him and it wasn't really helping.

"But the decision has to come from you." Ralph protested quickly, clearing his throat nervously.

Vanellope grabbed his arm in delight.

"Right. My decision." She agreed, sounding absolutely ecstatic.

"_Oh boy._" Ralph thought with a whimper.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah... that ended up being a lot of Vanellope talking and not a lot of Ralph. But I decided it was more important that Ralph hear what Vanellope was thinking than her hearing what Ralph was thinking. Because I realized she'd already figured out that Ralph liked her in the last chapter.

Review Response:

**To all** - Yes, Vanellope is very blunt. She has to be since Ralph is so wishy-washy and indirect about everything. This is always going to be the nature of their relationship.

**jeh-nee** - No, you're not being naive or oblivious. Vanellope was just jumping the gun. Her brain moves in weird ways. Though his head had totally gone in that direction. Just not anywhere near that far.

**phantasma1500, asian115** - Honestly, you didn't really think they were gonna have sex this chapter did you? Where have you been for the last 20 chapters?


	22. Chapter 21: Bad Anon

**A/N: **Sorry it's late guys. I decided to take a day off.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Bad Anon**

Vanellope was pouting again.

After their discussion Ralph had kicked her out. Said she was making him nervous. He also said that there was no way he was going to trust her to make a decision while she was looking at him like that and to go away and think about it seriously.

Ralph apparently thought this was a big decision, but Vanellope didn't think it was. Not really. Well... Maybe that wasn't exactly it. Not hanging around Ralph anymore... that seemed like it would be a big decision to make. Having to make restrictions on her behavior... that also seemed like a big decision. But this one, this one seemed like an easy choice.

"_And the right choice always seems easy._" Vanellope thought with conviction. "_...even if it's not always the easiest to do._" She suddenly thought as she remembered the other half of that saying.

This thought made her wonder about what it would be like to actually date Ralph. She couldn't imagine that it would be much different, especially not at first. It took Ralph forever to get used to anything. She predicted that the first little while would be exactly the same as what they'd been doing. Only this time if she stole a kiss Ralph wouldn't have the right to be annoyed. He might not even stop her either. That would be a definite plus.

But what about after? Once Ralph actually got used to the idea, what might change? Ralph was a sort of private person. Not with her, because she forced herself under his skin on purpose. But she had to work to get him to open up. So there were a lot of things that they probably wouldn't do. Like Taffyta and Rancis getting all giggly and flirty in front of the fans before a race... or Tammy attempting to drag Felix into her lap after having a few too many drinks at Tappers. No, Ralph might take some offense at that sort of behavior.

In _private_ things might change. Vanellope blushed to think of it. She didn't even know where to start when it came to that. Well... bits of her seemed to have an idea. But she _felt_ completely clueless. What was worse was that she had a sneaking suspicion that this was something she couldn't depend on Ralph to take the lead in. He seemed too nervous about all of that in general.

Vanellope waved all of those thoughts away. All of that would come later. Spontaneity was definitely the way to go with that. It would, theoretically, happen on it's own. If she planned anything out Ralph would probably figure it out and nix it anyway. He was weird like that.

"_I wonder if dating is going to be really difficult?_" Vanellope mused. It didn't seem like it would be. But then again, Ralph made some things awfully... counter intuitive.

+++[Pac-Man...]+++

"Ralph! It's nice to see you again. You haven't been visiting lately." Satan greeted when he saw Ralph enter the room.

"Wasn't I here just last week?" Ralph asked.

"You haven't been to a meeting in over a month." Satan answered.

"Life has been really busy lately." Ralph mused as he sat down.

"Well, lets hear all about it Ralph." Clyde offered. Everyone had already trickled into the room and found their seats.

"I... don't even know where to start." Ralph commented. "I guess the beginning would be Sugar Rush's update."

Clyde nodded sagely, like he knew exactly what this was about. That knowing look didn't sit well with Ralph, but Clyde always had that face when people were 'sharing'. He was old and wise amongst the games, Ralph gave him that, but he just didn't think Clyde could relate to this one.

"Vanellope's change in appearance must've been an interesting change for you." Clyde commented.

"It was..." Ralph said hesitantly, like he didn't really want to admit it.

"Zangief see your dancing. Very sexy. Zangief is thinking Ralph is very lucky." Zangief commented with a knowing smirk.

"You were there?" Ralph asked. He didn't actually remember anything about that night, except for Vanellope herself. Maybe a little of Ken in there when he thought about why he'd been so eager to dance with her in the first place.

"Yes. There were many people who are seeing the dancing. All very impressed." Zangief answered with a sage nod. Ralph bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything, but the look on his face probably said it all.

Had everybody seen them? This wasn't all that everyone was talking about, was it?

"Umm..." Ralph couldn't think of anything to say.

"You and Vanellope have always been very close. It's nice that this upgrade has allowed you two to take that to another level." Clyde said softly. Clyde said everything softly. That was another thing that bugged Ralph sometimes.

"That's not exactly what either of us were expecting to happen." Ralph thought to comment.

"Well, these things sneak up on the best of us." Clyde excused. Ralph took that to mean that Clyde hadn't seen it coming either.

"Is sometimes hard to form lasting relationships, especially for 'bad guy'. So is useful to have that foundation of unprejudiced little girl eyes, yes?" Zangief commented.

Zangief had a point, Ralph supposed. There was almost no way that he and Vanellope would have a relationship the way things are now, if he hadn't met her when she was little and an outcast in her own game. On the other side of things, Ralph would never have approached Vanellope in the first place if she'd looked like she did now. But it sort of sounded like Zangief was suggesting that it wasn't worth trying to form a relationship with anyone else, because he had Vanellope. That thinking seemed flawed to Ralph, but he couldn't think of an argument.

"So, how _are_ you and Vanellope doing?" Clyde asked, getting back to the point.

"We're doing okay." Ralph answered. "It... it took us a while to find a balance. To figure out what was going on. I guess you could say that my initial reaction to her new look wasn't the best."

"But you've worked everything out?" Clyde prompted.

"I-I think so." Ralph answered. "I think Vanellope might still be a little confused, but once she figures out what she want..." Ralph wasn't sure how he wanted to end that.

"Women are so indecisive, you might be going back and forth forever if you don't put a firm hand in." Bowser warned. Everyone in the circle nodded sagely. Everyone knew that Bowser had women troubles. Princess Peach was always wishy-washy in her relationships. One day being completely infatuated with Mario, the next wanting to run away with Bowser.

Ralph had to think about that one. He thought it was important to let Vanellope make up her mind on the relationship parameters. He didn't think it was the same thing as letting her lead him by the nose through the whole thing. He also didn't think that he'd have the same troubles with it that Bowser had, even if he did. Vanellope was flighty, but not as conflicted as Peach was. He was certain that Vanellope's affections were limited to him, as weird as that seemed.

"That's not exactly what I meant, but I guess I'll keep it in mind." Ralph said, sounding unsure.

"Are you having doubts?" Clyde asked. Ralph sighed as he thought about it.

"That isn't exactly how I'd put it." Ralph said. "It's just that I don't know what to do. I've never even thought of being in a romantic relationship before. Then this comes up all of a sudden and it's just there. Where do you start?" Ralph asked, somewhat rhetorically. He wanted an answer, but he didn't really think anyone could give him an answer that he'd like.

"I think your problem isn't 'where to start'."Clyde mused. "It's more that you're already in the middle of one and you don't know what to do or how you got there."

Ralph nodded at that one. There wasn't any denying the truth of that statement.

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah. I took a day off. Writing a chapter a day can get a little difficult. And before you ask the question... Yes. I did just say I think Peach/Bowser is a think. If you ever read about the original backstory of Mario and Donkey Kong then you'd wonder about it too.

Review Response:

**To lots of people** - I got a lot of compliments in the last round of reviews about how well I've been keeping everyone in character. To which I can only say... thanks? It's a big compliment, I just don't know what to say to it. Particularly because I keep going back through the fanfic and wondering whether or not I really HAVE. But I'm glad everyone thinks so.

**Reader** - I'm glad that that went over so well. The lack of more adult words was really more of a character thing than a lack of will to actually say or type them. Ralph doesn't, or rather didn't, like thinking about Vanellope in those terms. Vanellope could only think about it in abstract. So... yeah. It had purpose other than just being hilarious.


	23. Chapter 22: Skin

**A/N: **I'm having a really hard time coming up with titles now. So... if they're starting to only marginally make sense, then so be it.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Skin**

It's been a little over a week since Ralph and Vanellope had decided they were officially dating. As predicted, nothing had actually changed much, at least if you were looking at Ralph. By all outwards appearance he was completely blasé about the whole thing. Almost to the point of ignoring just about everything Vanellope chose to do. Until they were behind closed doors anyway. Behind closed doors he let a few reactions show through.

Vanellope, however, was an entirely different matter. If you didn't know them very well, just looking at the two wouldn't give much away. Because really, their behavior had led everyone to the conclusion they were dating before. But Vanellope's expression was just a bit sweeter, perhaps. It was also considerably more focused on Ralph. Ralph was the _first_ one to notice that change.

Vanellope looked at him a lot. Vanellope looked at him quite a lot and rather intently. It made Ralph incredibly nervous. It was a type of nerves he could ignore while they were out in public, because he was sure it wouldn't got any further than that. But when they were alone it tended to give Ralph the shivers something fierce. He just knew that this gaze was leading somewhere. If he had any idea what it would manifest as he probably wouldn't be so nervous.

It wasn't until they were at Tapper's, of all things, that he started getting some sort of hint.

Nothing in particular was happening, they were just sitting at one of the bars, when Vanellope started to touch him. Nothing weird or invasive, just putting her hand over his skin. She started with his left hand.

"What are you doing?" Ralph asked when she picked his hand up off the bar and started... feeling it up.

"Touching you." Vanellope answered succinctly.

"Why?" Ralph asked.

"Seeing if you're as interesting to touch as you are to look at." Vanellope answered. She sounded quite distracted.

Well... what were you supposed to say to that? Ralph couldn't think of anything. There didn't seem to be a correct response. The only thing that Ralph could really think was that maybe this wasn't something that should be done in public. He guessed that as long as she stayed within certain lines...

Felix and Calhoun sat down at the bar next to them.

"Hi Ralph." Felix said cheerfully.

"Hi Felix." Ralph said, still distracted. Calhoun noticed what was going on immediately.

"What's she doing?" Calhoun asked.

"Ummm..." Ralph thought. "I'm still not completely sure." He answered finally. Vanellope was slowly making her way up his arm. She'd only gotten to just below his elbow so far. He certainly hoped she intended to stop when she got to his sleeve.

"Just... exploring." Vanellope said, supposedly to explain her actions.

"Exploring..." Calhoun asked.

"Ralph." Vanellope answered.

There was a pause where everyone took that in. Then Calhoun smirked at Ralph, who turned pink.

"Not like that!" Ralph insisted.

Calhoun just snickered as she picked up her root beer to take a drink. Ralph wisely didn't say anything.

Vanellope _did_ stop when she got to his sleeve... sort of. She'd pushed it up a bit, brushing her fingertips over his shoulder just a bit. But she'd stopped at that. She'd been so thorough about it, carefully going over every inch. It really seemed like she'd been looking for something.

"Finished?" Ralph couldn't help but ask, somewhat amused.

When Vanellope had finished she'd draped her hands around his forearm. She looked a little flushed.

"Umm...yeah." She said after a minute.

Ralph could tell this was a something that would come up again later.

+++[Days later at Sugar Rush...]+++

It was Sugar Rush's anniversary. It was 17 today.  
Vanellope had enlisted Ralph and Felix to help with the decorations the night before, since Sugar Rush's anniversary just happened to fall on a Monday, when the arcade was closed. Vanellope was planning a rave, she said. Ralph had declined to comment. He really didn't want to participate in anything that could be classified as a 'rave', but he didn't want to disappoint Vanellope by not being there either.

Vanellope had had an alternative motive for asking Ralph to help decorate. She actually hadn't wanted Felix there at all, he'd just invited himself along because he was so naturally 'helpful'. He'd only been mildly annoying. Vanellope had plenty of castle staff that would've gladly done all of this stuff. What'd she really want? To watch Ralph work. She had this idea that it'd be amazingly awesome to see him actually use his muscles. He had so many of them, they really should be put to some use.

"_Even if it's just eye candy._" Vanellope thought happily. She couldn't find much that actually worked him, to be honest, because he was too strong for that. But he was tall, so she could make him stretch and attach things to high up places. So while the muscles didn't strain, they did move.

There was a quirk about Ralph's outfit that Vanellope noticed after a bit, and was trying to exploit whenever possible. His plaid shirt was ragged at the bottom, just like it was around the sleeves. This made it just a little short. Not enough to make a difference when he was just standing there, or crouched down or anything. But when he had to raise his arms, or stretch up more than normal... there was a tiny little patch of skin exposed on the left, where his overalls hung down a little lower due to lack of strap. Vanellope was completely obsessed with it.

It probably wasn't healthy. Quite a lot of her motivation for that night hadn't been all that healthy. The pleasure of ordering Ralph around, just watching him move around being unreasonably strong, and now catching multiple glimpses of a patch of skin he didn't know he was exposing. She was so bad.

It'd been kind of late when they had finally finished. She'd really wanted Ralph to stay over. Not for anything serious, but she would've liked some time alone with him, after all that distraction. She had to wonder if Ralph hadn't sensed something though, because he'd been rather insistent on leaving.

So now it was the day after. Between Ralph and Felix the great hall of the castle, where she intended to hold the party, was looking really good. Banners and streamers and the stage that Felix built. A few bands were coming in from DDR. Plus Vanellope was thinking about karaoke, that would be fun. The food was already set out, provided by Kitty's Kitchen, Tapper's, and of course Sugar Rush. Now all that Vanellope had to do, really, was to wait for people to show up.

* * *

**A/N:** I wasn't GOING to stop it there... but I needed a place to cut it off so that I could start up the anniversary party at a good point. I've told you guys before that I do absolutely no planning or editing on this thing, right?

Review Response:

**jeh-nee** - You always make me feel so great about my writing skills. Because you DO get it right even when I keep thinking that there is no way what I'm writing makes any sense. You make it seem like I've put a lot more thought into it then I really ever do, though.

**trent** - I know it _seems_ like filler... But I think it's important to put in those little bits of 'what are people thinking/feeling about this'. Though I do sometimes use them just to organize my thoughts on what I want to happen next.  
Which leads to...  
**ZePuKa** - I don't know that it's even a matter of reading their minds. It's more about finding out how I want them to feel about something, and then making it seem like it would be what that character would think through justification. And if I can't justify it then I change it... which changes where the story is going entirely. Which is why I almost never know what's going to happen next. This fanfic is starting to get a little out of hand to be honest.


	24. Chapter 23: Rave, Part 1

**A/N: **Too much is happening at this party. I gotta split it into two parts.

* * *

**Chapter 23: Rave, Part 1**

Ralph was stressed. It wasn't easy to look like you were having a good time in a situation like this. The music was very loud, and the quality of it was debatable. The grand hall, which Vanellope had assured them would be plenty big enough, was officially standing room only. Ralph suspected that the entire arcade had shown up, whether or not they'd been invited. It wasn't easy being a large guy in a crowded room, and Ralph found he wasn't enjoying the experience. He felt too large most of the time anyway, actually being able to compare himself to everyone else in the arcade was just uncomfortable.

Vanellope had been spending most of her time playing hostess and pointing everyone in the direction of the 'fun stuff'. She'd all but demanded that Ralph stay by her side for most of it, but she'd just recently disappeared to places unknown. He thought she'd said something about the dance floor, but ALL of it was dance floor as far as he could tell.

Ralph was plastering a smile on his face, just in case Vanellope was looking his way like she had been so often lately. Unlike her, he was easily spotted in the crowd. So he was determined to look like he was having a good time, just in case. It was getting increasingly more difficult.

"_It's really hot in here._" Ralph mused. He wondered if there was a way to fix that. He looked around and spotted several hinged windows near the ceiling. Those could probably be opened, and the pillars looked fairly climbable. So...

Vanellope was, in fact, dancing. She'd told Ralph this with the idea that he should join her. But alas, it hadn't happened, because Ralph just didn't care for dancing. She'd kind of thought she'd cured him of that that first time they went dancing, plus it was less likely they'd be the center of attention in such a crowded place. But neither of those facts seemed to sway him. It was disappointing.

But there was no shortage of people wanting to dance, so Vanellope found someone readily enough.

"Ken!" Vanellope beamed. Great luck, she assumed, since she already knew that Ken was an excellent dancer.

"Hey there girly." Ken greeted.

"I was _just_ looking for someone to dance with." Vanellope said, innocently enough.

"Oh? Well wheres your guy? Ralph?" Ken asked, scanning the immediate vicinity nervously. He knew Ralph was passive by nature, but he was still _really_ big. He'd hate to get on that guy's bad side.

"Oh, he's hanging around somewhere. If I could get him to dance he'd be perfect." Vanellope jokingly complained with a wave of her hand.

"Uhh... well, I guess so then." Ken agreed hesitantly, letting Vanellope lead him to the dance floor.

Vanellope and Ken spent quite a while dancing. The dance floor was really crowded and Vanellope quickly noticed that the room was heating up a lot. Vanellope asked around the floor, wondering if it was just her. When other people agreed and she noticed everyone was starting to sweat she thought that maybe she should do something about it. But first she took off her hoodie, since she was starting to overheat.

She went to go find Sour Bill. He'd have some plan for this. He had a plan for everything. She found him hiding out in one of the antechambers, away from the crowd. He looked a little sticky, like he was somewhat melted. He'd been in the hall not too long ago judging by that. He was fanning himself with a paper fan.

"Bill, do you know what to do about that heat in the grand hall? It's really getting ridiculous in there." Vanellope asked.

"Wreck-it Ralph is already opening the windows." Sour Bill answered in his usual monotone.

"He is? Did you ask him to do that?" Vanellope asked in surprise.

"No." Sour Bill answered.

"Hmm. Will that help with the heat?" Vanellope asked.

"Yes, once enough of them are open. He's only just started." Sour Bill replied.

"Oh. Well... thanks, I guess." Vanellope said.

"Mmmhmmm." Bill mumbled.

Vanellope went back to the main hall. She looked up at the windows and noticed several of them were already open. The temperature was slowly starting to go down to a tolerable level. She scanned the walls and spotted Ralph. He was hanging on to one of the pillars and fiddling with another window. She sighed blissfully when she spotted him.

Ralph's muscles were all tensed as he clung to the pillar tight enough to be able to stretch out to the window latch. Vanellope was really enjoying the sight. It was terrible to be so... distracted when it was already really hot in here. She was about to go over to where he was about to come down, but someone stopped her.

"Vanellope!" Taffyta shouted, interrupting Vanellope's course of action.

"What?" Vanellope asked. She turned away from Ralph to look at Taffyta.

Taffyta was covered head to toe in sugar glitter.

"C'mon, you're the only one whose not ready!" Taffyta said.

"Ready for what?!" Vanellope shouted as Taffyta dragged her off.

* * *

**A/N:** Squee, I'm having giggle fits over what I'm thinking for the next chapter.

Review Response:

**Reader** - It comes with being a teenager I imagine. I thought that part was pretty good too.

**malstar100** - Yes, but that really was just a coincidence. I was just figuring, Sugar Rush was 15 at the time of the movie, and I wanted Ralph and Vanellope to be friends for more than a year when the update happened, and in story time a few months would've passed maybe. So I just picked 17 based on that. Nothing to do with character appearances.

**jeh-nee** - You know, that review was so long that my email cut it off and said I had to read the rest on ffnet. I was amused. Anyway, I'm glad I've broken that particular mold. I was trying really hard to avoid it with this one. As for this chapter, or rather the next chapter, I will answer one of your questions. No, Ralph isn't going to sing. Ralph really hates being the center of attention, I think he'd rather die than sing karaoke. Of course _Vanellope_ on the other hand...  
That's the only thing you got really wrong enough for me to say anything though.


	25. Chapter 24: Rave, Part 2

**A/N: **This chapter was _very_ fun to write. I just kept going and going...

* * *

**Chapter 24: Rave, Part 2**

Ralph sighed in annoyance as he hopped down off the pillar. The room was a little cooler now, but Ralph was really too warm now, after doing all that. It was hotter nearer the ceiling and that had been more work than he'd expected. It didn't help that when he was up there he was able to spot Vanellope. Dancing with _Ken_ again, of all things. Ralph suppressed an annoyed growl. He really wished that guy would just stop... being around. Or something like that.

Vanellope and Ken had eventually _stopped_ dancing, but that didn't make him feel any better about it. He'd lost sight of Vanellope a little after that. She'd gone off to parts unknown again. Ralph still had his eyes on the dance floor, surreptitiously glaring at Ken.

Suddenly the lights dimmed a bit and the music went silent. Ralph blinked and looked up at the stage, which was still well lit.

"May I have your attention please." A low announcer's voice asked. Everyone looked towards the stage. A familiar musical intro started lightly on the drums, but Ralph thought it was familiar but it kept looping right before it got to the part where he was sure he'd recognize it.

"Hi everyone!" Vanellope's voice said. She came out onto the stage wearing a mint colored cloak. "How is everyone? Enjoying the party?" She asked.

The whole crowd cheered in response.

"I'm so glad." Vanellope answered. "So... since it's our anniversary me and the girls got together and... well. You'll see. Sing along if you know the words, okay?" Vanellope asked, in a voice so sugary sweet that Ralph nearly checked for cavities.

The intro got a little louder and repeated a couple of more times while Vanellope shed the cloak and all the other Sugar Rush girls ran out on stage. They were all covered in glitter, which sparkled in an enticing manner.

Vanellope, Ralph was quite quick to notice, was once again lacking in a hoodie. Her shirt, which was too short and too tight to begin with, also seemed to be just a little damp with sweat.

"Kay, hit it." Vanellope said to the band.

The intro repeated just one more time, and the song started in full.

"_Oh geez..._" Ralph thought as he recognized it.

_donna michi datte_

_massugu jani darou_

_sou magari kunette_

_dekoboko shiteru hazu sa_

The girls started dancing as Vanellope broke out into song. Lots of short, complicated looking, wiggly, movements that seemed designed to make the glitter catch the light in interesting ways. Vanellope, however, was starting off a bit slower. She was swaying her hips and bending her knees a bit as she sung, making her body rock back and forth and her skirt catch the light. That changed as the song got a little faster.

_tsurai koto toki ni wa aru yo ne_

_bokutachi wa soredemo hashiru yo_

Vanellope's free arm went up and down through the air, almost tracing her body as she continued her rocking movements. She took a wide stance and locked her knees.

_amai mono demo ikaga?_

The beat got louder and she started bouncing as she practically shouted the chorus.

_S-U-G-A-R Jump into your racing car!_

_Say SUGAR RUSH!_

At this point she held the mike out to the crowd who replied:

_SUGAR RUSH! _

"Sugar Rush!" Ralph sort of mumbled a half-step late. He actually didn't like this song very much, but it was so catchy that he just knew it was going to be stuck in his head forever. On the repeat of the chorus Ralph had sort of caught up and shouted the second 'sugar rush' in time with the rest of the crowd. He wasn't all that enthusiastic about it though.

His attention was more locked onto Vanellope than her actual words, which he didn't understand anyway since he didn't know Japanese. The way she strutted around the stage, bending forward and cocking her shoulder on some lines. The way she bounced around and shook her hips as she danced on the instrumental. The glitter was catching the light and Ralph could see where it was wearing off just a little because of how she was sweating. He almost wished he were closer to the stage, but who knew what he might've done.

It was way too hot in here. Ralph decided. There weren't any more windows to open, he was just going to have to get out of the crowd. He knew there were a few side rooms that were probably unoccupied at the moment. He located a door and headed towards it.

It was difficult to get through the crowd, the way they were all bouncing around to the ridiculously catchy beat. But Ralph was making steady progress.

_S-U-G-A-R Jump into your racing car!_

_Say SUGAR RUSH!_

"SUGAR RUSH!" The crowd shouted, fists were flying into the air. Ralph narrowly avoided getting hit with an uppercut.

_S-U-G-A-R Jump into your racing car!_

_Say SUGAR RUSH!_

"SUGAR RUSH!" The crowd shouted.

"Sugar Rush." Ralph said, half a step behind as he struggled through the crowd.

_S-U-G-A-R Jump into your racing car!_

_Say SUGAR RUSH!_

"SUGAR RUSH!" The crowd screamed.

"Sugar Rush." Ralph said, late again.

Ralph finally made it into the room, fortunately unassaulted, almost exactly as the song was ending.

Vanellope, although she'd been very into the song, had noticed Ralph's slow struggle near the end. She hadn't noticed him while he was moving with the crowd. The lights on the stage were a little too bright for that. But a large man working his way against the grain in a crowd was a little hard to miss, even in poor lighting.

"Thank you! Thank you!" She shouted to the cheering crowd. She then declined any encore requests and dove through a side door to take the more empty route to the room Ralph had went into. It was only moments later that she was barreling into the almost empty antechamber. Ralph just blinked at her in surprise.

Vanellope's face was flushed, and her hair was a little wild, she was breathing really hard. She was also really sweaty and somewhat aware that she was covered in sugar glitter that was starting to streak and melt. She was so worked up at that point that she didn't really care what she looked like.

"So... umm..." Vanellope stalled, attempting to catch her breath. "Did you see the show?" She asked.

"Umm... yeah." Ralph answered. He looked at her with a strange expression she couldn't place.

"Was it good?" She asked quickly. She walked towards Ralph, who was standing propped up against a wall. He tensed up a little.

"Yeah." Ralph answered. He seemed a little on edge. Vanellope could sympathize, but she wasn't really sure why.

"Did you like my dancing?" Vanellope asked quietly. She was close enough now that she could.

Ralph looked away and raised an arm to scratch the back of his head nervously. Vanellope smirked, which turned into a grin when she realized his arm was up. She looked down. Sure enough there was that patch of skin she liked so much. Her hands almost started moving on their own.

"What?" Ralph asked in alarm as he looked back at her and saw the expression on her face.

She bit her lip and looked up at him, looking unintentionally coy. Her hands started moving just as soon as the idea came into her head, there was no help for it. In the blink of an eye they'd latched onto that patch of exposed skin and pushed themselves under his shirt and up his chest. She'd never been so glad that she didn't have her gloves on, having taken them off before the performance.

Ralph tried to jerk back, but bumped into the wall behind him. He groaned as Vanellope's hands explored his chest just as thoroughly as they had his arms just days ago.

Vanellope was ecstatic. There was _so much_ skin to explore now that she'd gotten to it. She couldn't see it, since it was all still covered by his two shirts, but that just gave into finding _all_ the details with her fingers. They were trying their darnedest too. His abs were flat and firm and full of so many ridges that she was having a hard time keeping track of them. Her hands trailed upwards and she was up to her elbows into his shirt before she realized something. Ralph was breathing very hard. His chest was moving against her hands.

She looked up at Ralph's face. The back of his head was pressed up against the wall and his eyes were closed. His jaw was tensed up and his throat was working really hard. Her hands stilled.

"Are you okay?" Vanellope asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure, but she thought Ralph might've whimpered.

It took a long time for Ralph to answer. He didn't trust himself to do anything, he didn't trust himself to say anything. He didn't even trust himself to open his eyes. Any more sensory input was going to set him off.

"I just..." He had to catch his breath. "Now would be a good time to stop." He advised after a moment.

Vanellope looked from Ralph's face down to his chest. There was a terrible sense of anticipation looming in the back of her mind. Ralph had _said_ it like a warning... but something in her just knew that it was something good. Vanellope's hands started to move again. They'd just barely had time to register the two small nubs on his chest when-

Ralph couldn't stand it anymore. He picked her up and reversed their positions, pressing her into the wall. Vanellope's legs automatically wrapped around him and her arms wrapped around his shoulders, pushing his shirt up to his underarms. There was a pause where both of them looked very alarmed at this. Vanellope was a bit breathless, her back having hit the wall just a little too hard.

"Ra-?" She didn't get a chance to ask the question. Ralph captured her mouth with his, kissing her so fiercely she was seeing stars.

Vanellope's hands snaked their way up the neck of his shirt to clutch at the base of his head, her fingers going through his hair. She just barely registered the movement of Ralph's hands, trailing up the back of her thighs. She whimpered as they got so far up and he squeezed, just lightly, the largeness of his hands making it so his fingers were so close to...

She couldn't take it anymore, she had to breath. She pulled her head away and angled her face upwards to catch her breath. This didn't stop Ralph, whose mouth then latched onto her neck.

"Ah!" She attempted to exclaim. It came out as more of a squeak. Her eyes were clamped shut and she bit her lip. She almost couldn't stand it.

Ralph continued to kiss her neck and jawline, sucking on it gently and enjoying the flavor. Vanellope tasted like sugar and salt and skin. It was wonderful. One of his hands trailed up her side, stroking her back. The other one was still around her thigh, his fingers flexing as they felt through the cloth of her leggings. Vanellope's legs clenched around his waist with every wiggle.

Something broke through Ralph's little wall of concentration. He looked up from his work on Vanellope's neck to try and pinpoint it. He caught sight of Vanellope's face and was almost lost again. Vanellope was gasping and whining, her hands scrambled at his neck to urge him on.

"No wait!" He said quietly. He tried to concentrate on his surroundings, trying to figure out what had triggered his alert. Vanellope pressed her lips shut in the effort to stay quiet.

After a minute he heard it again. There was excited shouting of...

"Vanellope~!" He heard coming from the grand hall, faintly. "Where's the hostess?"

Ralph's heart decided to skip a beat in panic. It really hurt, considering how fast it was going already.

"We have to stop." He informed Vanellope after he got a hold of himself.

"No!" Vanellope almost cried. "Please no."

"They're gonna be in here looking for you, you don't really want to be caught like this do you?" Ralph asked, going for a teasing voice but it sounded a little pained. Vanellope just whined at him.

Ralph wrapped his arms around her waist and let her up from the wall. She hung her head on his shoulder, catching her breath for a minute, before making a move to put her feet on the ground. Ralph set her down gently, letting her get a feel for her legs again. She wobbled a bit, but then let go of Ralph, taking her hands out from under his shirt.

Ralph pulled his shirts down, trying to make himself presentable, when he noticed something.

"You ripped my shirt!" He complained. Vanellope snickered at the rip that went all the way up his side, exposing the teal undershirt Ralph wore.

"Technically that was your fault." She pointed out. She'd been quite gentle with the shirt until she'd been unexpectedly lifted.

"I still have to go out looking like this." Ralph grumped, patting his shirt down a little in hopes of concealing the tear.

"That's the least of your problems." Vanellope informed as she took a good look at Ralph. Nevermind the tear in his shirt, his whole front was covered in glitter, his hair was even more wild than usual, and despite how loose they were there was an unmistakable tent to his trousers. Vanellope had to grin at her handiwork, even if the job wasn't finished.

Ralph was about to comment that she had no room to talk, but actually... She looked almost exactly the same as when she'd come in. Well... She had a couple of hickies starting, her glitter makeup was smudged in a lot of places, and he'd bet anything that she'd be walking a little funny, but other than that she looked just fine. Her hair had been like that before.

"Hmmph." Ralph just narrowed his eyes at her as she giggled.

"I'd... I'd better go and... and distract them." Vanellope said between giggles. "While you make yourself presentable."

"Oh?" Ralph asked. Vanellope just nodded.

When she went for the door Ralph grabbed her once more and kissed her again. Vanellope squeaked and flailed as her leg popped up behind her in bliss. Ralph then let her go. She wobbled a little and fell against the door. She blinked, realizing what had happened. She pointed at Ralph for a moment before she could speak.

"Mean." She said firmly, shaking her finger at him with emphasis.

"You deserved it." Ralph said with a small chuckle. He then opened the door and pushed her out into the crowd.

* * *

**A/N:** I didn't think that what I wanted to do in this chapter would take as many words as it all ended up taking. Oddly enough, my initial goal for this chapter didn't get accomplished. All I really wanted was to get Ralph out of his shirt. There's this artist on DeviantArt called blindthistle. She's done a couple of pictures of Ralph shirtless. They inspired that bit where Vanellope was putting her hands up his shirt. I'm gonna have to try again to get him shirtless.  
I couldn't write Vanellope's dancing in the detail I wanted. For my source of inspiration on how I thought she might move look up "I'm The One That's Cool" by The Guild on Youtube. Felicia Day's dancing is how I imagine Vanellope would look while rockin' out.

Review Response:

**The Phantom Soldier** - When you put it like that it seemed really obvious what I was planning.

**jeh-nee** - Ralph saw her dancing with Ken. He was just in the middle of something. He gets something in his head and he doesn't interrupt it until it's done.

**Nunyeahbusiness** - Good to have you back! I know what it's like to be without internet, so I feel your pain. Yeah, there is a lot more leeway in the personality of a character from a movie rather than that of one in a serial. In a serial the characters are exposed to a lot more situations, so you know how they'll react to a lot of different variables. It's nice to not have a lot of source material to have to consider.


	26. Chapter 25: The Afterparty

**A/N: **Okay, okay. I don't know about you but Ralph's just not being put through the ringer enough for me... I'm so mean.

* * *

**Chapter 25: The Afterparty**

The shouting, as it turned out, was a call for a speech from the hostess. The party was starting to trickle to a close and everyone wanted some sort of send off. Vanellope wasn't really feeling up to it, but she begrudgingly agreed.

"Well. I don't know about you, but I've been having a _great_ time." Vanellope said, nodding her head a little. There were cheers from the crowd. "But I've noticed, and I'm sure you've noticed too, that we've been going for a while now."

"Twelve hours!" Someone from the crowd yelled.

"Oh gosh, have we really?" Vanellope asked. "No wonder I'm so tired." She scratched the side of her head absently.

"Anyway, my point was, it's about time to call it a night. It's about... ten hours? Til the arcade opens again? And we've got a ridiculous amount of clean up to do -"

That elicited a chorus of boos from the crowd.

"Well we're not gonna make _you_ do it!" Vanellope protested. "Well... not if you get out fast enough." She joked.

"Anyway, you don't have to go home but-"

"You can't stay here!" The crowd shouted.

"There ya go!" Vanellope shouted back, pumping her fist with a little twirl.

At that, the crowd started to disperse. Ralph had finally gotten himself cooled off enough to be presentable, just in time to see that people were leaving. He couldn't say he was disappointed. Vanellope spotted him from her place on the stage. She hopped down and made her way over to where he was.

"You're gonna stay after and help with the clean up, right?" Vanellope asked innocently. She turned pink when Ralph raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm sure _clean up_ is on your mind." Ralph said dryly. Vanellope just pouted, which Ralph made a point of ignoring.

Ralph DID end up staying later and help clean up, as it turned out. Unfortunately a lot of other people did too. Felix and Calhoun, lots of the other racers, Tapper, and a few people from DDR. The racers were an obvious choice, but she had to question Tapper and the DDR crew about it.

"Well, you're not the only one to throw a crazy party. We know all about how much the clean up sucks." Yuni explained. "We always wish people would stay and help, so..." Vanellope could understand that. Even with all these people helping is still seemed like it was taking a while. Or maybe Vanellope was just impatient.

Vanellope pitched in some too, feeling guilty about just standing admiring Ralph. Mostly just because he kept calling her on it. Not out loud or anything, but with a few knowing looks. He'd guilted her into going elsewhere. She went to hang out with Taffyta, who was sort of helping by cleaning out some of the antechambers.

"What happened to your shirt?" Felix asked. He'd noticed the rip as Ralph reached up to pull the decorations off the wall. Ralph quickly smoothed his shirt down in a failed attempt to hide the giant tear.

"Umm..." Ralph struggled for an answer. Calhoun grinned.

"Does it have anything to do with how Vanellope bolted out of here in such a hurry after her big number?" Calhoun asked.

"What makes you say that?" Ralph asked innocently. Calhoun, who was close enough to do it, pulled Ralph's shirt up by the flap.

"There's glitter all over your chest." Calhoun answered. Ralph yelped and jerked his shirt back down, blushing bright red. Calhoun laughed at his reaction.

"Nice washboard ya got there." Calhoun teased.

"Would'ja cut it out?" Ralph complained. Calhoun waved him off, consenting to stop.

"So, I take it you and the pipsqueak are getting' along okay?" Calhoun questioned as she went back to work. Before Ralph could answer, Felix chimed in with an opinion.

"Oh, you two are so cute. It just tickles me so much to see you and Vanellope getting along so well." Felix beamed.

"What do you mean?" Ralph asked.

"Oh, just how I see you two walking arm in arm all the time. You guys go out almost every night, and you're both always all smiles lately. Everyone's noticed." Felix said, still smiling benignly as he picked trash up off the floor.

"What do you mean everyone's noticed? Why are people noticing? What _right_ do people have to notice?" Ralph asked, feeling like he was starting to panic.

"Well... I dunno. It's just that both of you draw so much attention." Felix tried to explain. "What with you being so big and Vanellope being so... so..." Felix stopped and scratched his chin as he tried to think of the correct word.

"Vivacious?" Calhoun supplied.

"Right." Felix agreed. "So between the two of you you're hard to miss. And when everyone sees something then people will talk..."

"People are _talking_ too?" Ralph moaned.

As far as Ralph was concerned this was terrible news. He didn't want to be noticed. He didn't want to be a central figure in people's gossip. Why couldn't they just mind their own business? Why did they care if he and Vanellope were dating?

"They're not saying anything _bad_ about either of you Ralph." Felix was quick to assure. "Well, I mean for the most part." He amended. "Every once in a while there's a-"

"No!" Ralph interrupted. "I _really_ don't want to know." Ralph insisted. The fact they were talking at all was bad enough. Knowing any bad thoughts at this time would just... completely derail the whole venture.

"Oh Ralph, you shouldn't let that discourage you. There was all sorts of talk when me and Tamora got together." Felix said, dismissing the issue.

"Some of the boys gave me all sorts of flak... Before I set them straight, that is." Calhoun said with an evil grin.

"Yeah, but if I did that it'd just make things worse." Ralph said, not feeling any better about it.

Ralph really didn't want to talk about this anymore. It was just making him uncomfortable. Why was this sort of thing always on his head? He glanced around the room, wondering where Vanellope was, but he didn't see her.

Vanellope, somewhat predictably, was goofing off in one of the antechambers with Taffyta. They'd snuck some drinks in and were sitting on the couch going over the highlights of a party well done.

"And you're ending speech!" Taffyta giggled.

"What? What was wrong with it?" Vanellope protested.

"You should've seen yourself. You know you weren't fooling anyone." Taffyta confided.

"What?" Vanellope whined.

"Your make up was all smudged, an your _hair_. You and Ralph were totally fooling around before we found you, don't lie." Taffyta said with confidence. Vanellope blushed to her roots.

"Omigosh, did everyone know?!" Vanellope squealed.

"_Everyone_ knew. You were such a hot mess." Taffyta answered with a laugh.

"Oh no..." Vanellope said with a grimace. How embarrassing. Ralph would never let her hear the end of it if he found out. He'd probably be mortified too, come to think of it. He was sort of easily flustered.

"So level with me." Taffyta said, readjusting herself on the couch, "Ralph's really good isn't he?"

Vanellope's brain locked up as it tried to digest the question.

"You... Did you really just ask what I think you asked?" Vanellope questioned. Taffyta snickered.

"No, I'm serious. I wanna know. The way you looked coming out of that room... You don't have to give me any details or anything." Taffyta explained.

Vanellope leaned back and thought about what Taffyta was asking. 'Good' could mean a lot of things. She supposed maybe that meant his actual actions. Her eyes went a little unfocused as she thought back to what Ralph had actually done. How he'd pressed against her, how his hands moved, his mouth on her neck...

Taffyta giggled, snapping Vanellope out of her musings. Vanellope realized she was blushing really hard and buried her face in her hands. That set Taffyta off into a giggle fit.

"You know, I was wondering what you saw in him, but now..." Taffyta said, sounding terribly amused.

"Oh sto~op!" Vanellope whined. "I wasn't going to know that at the time!" Vanellope pointed out. She sighed as she calmed down, thinking about what she actually saw in Ralph.

"He's really nice you know." She told Taffyta softly. "And... maybe he's not that nice looking on the, on the immediate surface. But he's so strong, and he's got soooo many muscles." She smiled slyly, her eyes half-lidded, as she thought about how all those muscles felt.

Taffyta got a far away look as she thought about what Vanellope was saying. She blinked and looked over at Vanellope, then she smiled.

"You've got it so good Vanny." She said, nudging Vanellope with her shoulder.

Vanellope brought her knees up and put her chin on them. She smiled almost impossibly wide.

Yeah... she really did have it good.

* * *

**A/N:** Yep... I just have to do what I'm about to do. Just couldn't stand it. No hints if you don't already have a guess.

Review Response:

**jeh-nee** - The danger of using the Sugar Rush theme in the last chapter was that I was listening to it all through writing, so now I've got it stuck in my head again. Also, Ralph is a hot mess all the time. It's just a little more of an outward thing in the last chapter.

**Zorua** - That's quite the undertaking. I've only ever done that for one fanfic myself. I feel so complimented. You'll forgive me for not responding to every single one, I hope.

**sassybutt32, rangers123** - I find reading fanfiction in class is, in general, very dangerous. Especially since it's very likely that the author will pull something like that, completely by accident, on the chapter update you just can't wait to read long enough to wait til after class.

**Nunyeahbusiness** - I thought really hard about putting some of that in. I wrote out some of that, but decided I wanted to go a different way with it. I thought underscoring that would just make Ralph a little too insecure to do what he ended up doing next.


	27. Chapter 26: Interlude

**A/N: **I'm sick. So this is short and the title doesn't make a lot of sense. Also I have a question to ask at the end.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Interlude**

The grand hall was clean. Or at least clean enough, they decided. They were all getting tired. Tapper had been the first to leave. He'd stayed only to clean up his kitchen equipment and get out. Taking a whole train to himself for all the things he had to pack. The DDR gang had left after that, after getting up all the instruments and dismantling the stage, they'd also helped clear the floor of all the miscellaneous junk and trash. So only Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun were left out of place.

Ralph was more than ready to leave. He was exhausted. Given the time, he guessed that he'd probably have time for a snooze before Vanellope would wake him up in some rude fashion (she was still sneaking in somehow, even though he'd installed locks on the windows too).

"I'm gonna find Vanellope and tell her we're leaving." Ralph said. He had an idea he could find Vanellope faster than the other two. Felix and Calhoun started heading out of the castle.

It only took a few doors until Ralph finally found her. And Taffyta apparently. The two were giggling like mad over something. The room was clean anyhow, that was something.

"What are you two doing?" Ralph asked. Vanellope looked up and put her hands over her mouth. She was pretty red in the face.

"We were just talking." Vanellope answered after a moment, her voice was squeaky like she was trying not to laugh. Ralph's raised eyebrow caused her to start giggling again.

Ralph just shook his head in disbelief.

"Uh-huh." He said. Taffyta got up suddenly.

"Y'know, I think I'm gonna go Vanny. I got some stuff to do before I pass out from exhaustion. I'll see you at the Roster Race, kay?" Taffyta asked.

"What?" Vanellope asked. "Oh. No, yeah that's fine. I'll see you later Taffyta." She said.

"Bye Vanny, bye Ralph!" Taffyta said with a little wave as she went out the door.

Once they were alone Vanellope smiled widely.

"I was just coming to tell you that we're leaving." Ralph said.

"You can stay a little longer though... can't you?" Vanellope asked, biting her lip and looking up at him.

"Oh, I don't think so. I'm kinda tired..." Ralph answered, trying to not look directly at her face.

"Please?" Vanellope asked, getting closer and leaning up against his chest. Ralph didn't respond right away, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Vanellope grinned at him, seeing she was wearing him down.

"Just for a little while longer?" Vanellope asked.

"No, I -" Ralph stopped as he caught Vanellope. She'd jumped into his arms and wrapped her own arms around his neck. "Umm..." Ralph tried to think of what to say to this.

"C'mon, please? I have a bed too y'know..." Vanellope pointed out. Thinking of his love of sleep. Ralph turned red and cleared his throat.

"Really I should-"

"Please please please please please..." Vanellope whispered into his ear. Her nose and mouth brushing against his earlobe as she spoke. Ralph tilted his head slowly and she could feel his grip on her tightening just a little.

"_Jackpot._" Vanellope thought with satisfaction. She grinned and nibbled on the bit of neck that was under her head. She felt the skin under her lips vibrate as Ralph groaned.

Just outside the door, where neither of them could see, Taffyta was grinning and biting her lip to keep from giggling. She clapped her hands softly and bounced a little before tip-toeing off. She felt a little bad for eaves dropping... but not very. Especially since she was giving them privacy now. That counted, right?

Taffyta made her way out of the castle with a whistle and a spring in her step. She paused as she saw the Fix-It guy and his soldier wife mulling about near the entrance.

"Oh hey guys, why are you still here?" Taffyta asked. She ignored the weird look the soldier lady gave her. She always sort of looked like that.

"We're waiting for Ralph. We thought he'd be coming home with us." Felix responded.

Taffyta burst into giggles at that.

"Oh... no. I think you better go on without him." Taffyta insisted.

"Why?" Calhoun asked.

"Well... let's just say Vanellope has him a bit preoccupied." Taffyta said with a grin. "Anyway. I gotta go. See ya guys some other time." Taffyta said as she left with a wave.

She hoped those two didn't stand around being bored all night.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes what you think is going to happen is about to happen. No, you probably won't see it. I don't want to post a sex scene on ffnet. I'm debating writing it out and posting it on my livejournal maybe. What are your thoughts on that? I've never actually written anything like that so it might not really be very good. You want me to write it out? Or... leave it to your imagination?  
Note: When I say 'sex scene' I don't want you to think they're actually... I mean, it's too soon for them to... But there would be actual action. Of the adult kind. In a bed.

Review Response:

Umm... I'm too sick and tired. I love you all and as always, thank you for all the positive feedback.


	28. Chapter 27: Come to Bed, Part 1

**A/N: WARNING!** This chapter, while not particularly explicit, does have mention of an adult situation. Just... the whole chapter. Since I couldn't decide where to break it up.  
That's also why the chapter is kind of long. Consider it a Christmas Present.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Come to Bed, Part 1**

Ralph started as he realized where he was. He blinked and stared at the door to Vanellope's bedroom uneasily. Vanellope was still snuggling into his neck and making nice sounds. It seemed to him that he didn't remember actually agreeing to this. He was having a hard time finding it in him to cross through that door. It seemed far too-

"Are we going to go in or not?" Vanellope asked, interrupting Ralph's moment of anxiety. Ralph turned his attention to her, rather than the door. She'd pull away to look at his face, her head tilted in confusion. The confusion didn't abate when he put her down.

"I don't know that I should." Ralph answered.

Vanellope inspected his face closely. He had a familiar nervous, uncomfortable look on his face. One that Vanellope was beginning to recognize, but it still baffled her. She just didn't understand why he felt the need to be so unsure around her all the time. Not when she always felt so confident with him.

"Well, if you really don't want to..." Vanellope said. She pouted at him. Ralph winced.

"I probably shouldn't." Ralph hesitated.

Of course that hesitating told Vanellope all she needed to know. She leaned up on tip-toe, indicating she wanted him to lean down for a kiss. Her hand just brushing the doorknob. Ralph didn't hesitate to take her up on this.

Ralph leaned down and kissed her very softly. Vanellope made a complaining noise and brought a hand up around his neck. Ralph leaned forward more, deepening the kiss. Vanellope went off tip-toe, dragging Ralph down with her. Ralph put his hands on the door to keep his balance as he was pulled down.

Vanellope tried not to smile. She grabbed the doorknob and turned, grinning as they fell inside.

Ralph yelped a little as he stumbled through the doorway, his arms pinwheeling as he struggled to keep himself upright. He'd been successful, but Vanellope wasn't quite so lucky. She'd stumbled backwards in an attempt to use Ralph to balance herself, still clinging to his neck. It hadn't worked. She'd tumbled to the floor, landing on her back with a rather loud thud.

Ralph was locked up, looking completely shocked. From Vanellope's point of view on the floor this was priceless. His back was hunched, his arms were up, his eyes were wide. He was almost on top of her. Vanellope was practically cackling.

Ralph looked down at her, ready to scold, but he stopped short when he got a good look at her. Vanellope was on the floor, her knees bent into the air so her feet were on the ground. Her head was bent back as she laughed, causing her back to arch off the ground just a bit. She was holding her ribs and her shirt was riding up, partially because of how she was clutching herself, and her entire stomach was exposed. Ralph gave a rumbling sigh.

Vanellope eventually stopped laughing, the amusement cooling down. She wiped her eyes and looked up at Ralph again. She paused in surprise at how he was looking at her. His gaze was almost unfocused, but it was still roaming up and down to look at... her body, she supposed. Her face turned a little pink.

"Ralph?" She asked. Ralph's gaze snapped up to her face with a guilty blush. Vanellope smiled and held her hands into the air. Ralph held her hands and pulled her up. Ralph looked around the room while Vanellope straightened her outfit out a bit.

It was about what you'd expect, based on the rest of the castle. A large room decked out in pink, with long lacy drapes on the windows and white bedroom furniture. Ralph's eyes got stuck on the large bed in the middle of the room. It was larger than Vanellope would ever need by herself. It was almost larger than _Ralph_ would've needed by himself.

"It's king sized." Vanellope commented, following his eyes. Ralph turned back to her. She was hopping around, taking off her shoes. That was the 3rd garment to disappear, if you counted her gloves, Ralph carefully didn't notice.

"Shoes?" Ralph questioned.

"Well, I don't know about _you_, but I don't wear my shoes to bed." Vanellope teased. Of course, Ralph didn't wear shoes.

Vanellope finished with her boots and tossed them over into the corner before sitting down on the edge of her bed. She sat smiling, her hands on her lap expectantly. After a still moment she patted the space next to her. Ralph worked his jaw and swallowed nervously. Vanellope rolled her eyes at his hesitation.

"Why are you so nervous?" Vanellope asked, trying to hide her amusement. She had an idea that laughing at him any more wouldn't help at this point.

"You." Ralph answered quickly. "Or maybe me." He amended. "It's complicated." Ralph said after a moment. He sighed and came over, sitting down on the bed beside Vanellope. Vanellope wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her face against his arm.

"I make you nervous?" Vanellope asked, not able to keep the grin off of her face.

"Mostly because I never know exactly what you're going to do." Ralph explained. This wasn't a new thing, Vanellope had always been so unpredictable. But it seemed different now. He had more invested in her actions, he guessed, now that they were together.

"Oh. Sooo... if I told exactly what I plan to do to you now that you're here, that would make you less nervous?" Vanellope asked. She levered herself up onto her knees, straddling his hips and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Ralph looked at her and hesitantly put his hands on her sides.

"Somehow I really doubt it." He said after a moment. Vanellope gave a wicked grin and kissed him deeply.

Ralph sighed blissfully. He started leaning back onto the bed, using one arm to prop himself up. It was about then that what Vanellope's hands were doing caught his attention. They'd made their way down his chest and were slowly scrunching up his shirt near it's non-existent hem.

"What are you doing?" Ralph asked, muffled by Vanellope's lips.

"I thought you didn't want to know." Vanellope pointed out. Ralph pulled back and looked her in the face. "I'm taking off your shirt." Vanellope answered.

"And what's that going to accomplish?" Ralph asked. He leaned back on both elbows, just sort of enjoying the feel of Vanellope on him. She hadn't stopped pulling at his shirt, he noticed.

"I will get to see you shirtless, duh." Vanellope 'explained'. She took advantage of this situation by feeling up his chest as she exposed the skin. She paused when she'd gotten it up to his shoulders. With his arms behind him and his overall strap there might be a problem. Ralph snickered at her annoyed look.

"What, you think this'll stop me?" Vanellope asked, raising an eyebrow at Ralph. Ralph just shrugged. Vanellope grinned before popping the latch on Ralph's overall strap and pulling the shirt over his head, trapping his arms behind him as effectively as a shirt could.

Ralph blinked, a little confused as to what had just happened. Vanellope clapped her hands and squealed at her success.

"You think you're sooo clever, don't you?" Ralph asked sarcastically.

"Yes!" Vanellope practically hissed as she proceeded to enjoy her unimpeded access to Ralph's bare chest. She was bent over so that her face was nearly touching him, stroking her hands along ridges his muscles presented. They were more pronounced like this, she noticed with satisfaction.

Ralph had to admit that bits of this were quite nice. To his surprise, he really enjoyed being touched. He was a little wary of the fact that he couldn't move though. If he moved his arms wrong he was going to tear his shirt... again, and if he moved his hips too much his overalls were likely to fall off. Vanellope crawled her way up him and lay across his chest with satisfaction.

"Hmmm," she murmured happily. "this is great." she told him. Ralph murmured his agreement as Vanellope kissed him.

Vanellope brought her hands to Ralph's face, her fingertips brushing over his cheeks and jawline. Ralph gave an appreciative, rumbling moan and tried to lever himself up a bit. Vanellope released the kiss an looked at him, mock seriously.

"This isn't nearly as fun with your arms trapped." Vanellope informed him.

"Glad you noticed." Ralph replied. Vanellope sat up, giving Ralph room to lever himself off of his elbows and into a sitting position. Vanellope started to push his shirt down his arms, shifting a little closer to getting better access.

She'd only gotten the shirt about halfway down his arms when she paused. She wasn't sure what it was that had stopped her until she looked up at Ralph's face and saw that he was staring at her. It was a new look on him but she recognized it anyway, it'd been on her face a lot lately. She blushed and looked down, kind of nervous all of a sudden. She wondered if this feeling was why Ralph seemed so nervous all the time. Did she make him feel like this?

Vanellope looked up again to see Ralph smiling at her. When she smiled back Ralph kissed her. She sighed and her hands, which had been previously occupied with his shirt, trailed up to his shoulders. She pressed herself into him.

Then suddenly a few things happened all at once. Vanellope squeaked as her hips rolled forward onto a something she hadn't been considering a moment ago. Ralph groaned and squirmed, his arms were suddenly wrapped around her very firmly. Vanellope broke the kiss with a gasp, clutching at Ralph's shoulders.

"Oh..." Vanellope's voice wavered a bit. They were still pressed close together. The pressure invading the space between her legs was the most wonderful and distracting thing she'd ever felt. It took a lot of brain power to keep still, her hips were trying to coerce themselves into some circular motion. She gathered the presence of mind to look at Ralph.

Ralph seemed to be having a similar struggle. He was shivering a bit and breathing heavily through his nose. His arms were still wrapped around Vanellope's waist, pieces of his shirts dangling from both of them.

"You ripped your shirt." Vanellope mentioned in an attempt to distract herself. Ralph made a sound of acknowledgment. He let up on his grip and exhaled slowly through his mouth. He put his hands down and rested them on the bed. Vanellope was still pressed against him, but it seemed less urgent now. She didn't want to get up though.

"Sorry." Ralph said, sounding a bit tense. Vanellope made a little whiny sound.

"Why are you sorry?" Vanellope asked, a desperate sort of exasperation in her voice. Was Ralph always going to have such a reluctant attitude towards _everything_? She was going to have to drag him every step of the way into everything for the rest of their lives. She just knew it.

"I just... didn't mean to." Ralph answered. It was true. If given time to think about it he probably wouldn't have done that. His body had decided that was a good idea all on it's own.

"Can we keep going?" Vanellope asked, lifting her hips a bit in a hopeful gesture.

"No, I don't think-" Ralph's words made Vanellope want to scream. Instead she beat her forehead on his shoulder in frustration. She stopped after a moment, resting her head on his shoulder with a sigh.

"Who programed you to think? Because you get the worst ideas." Vanellope griped.

Ralph, seeing that he wasn't going to get his side of this out, decided to just show her what he wanted. Ralph hoisted her up a bit, away from his hips, and plopped her down so she was laying on the bed. Vanellope just stared blankly at the ceiling in shock for a moment. Ralph stood up and struggled with the strap on his overalls for a minute, trying to hook it with his impossibly large hands.

"You're not leaving are you?" Vanellope asked, propping herself up with her hands.

"No, but I won't be able to do what I want to do if I think my pants are gonna fall off." Ralph answered with a growl. He was frustrated with the clasp, and a little annoyed at Vanellope for giving him a hard time. He wasn't in any better a state than she was.

Ralph finally got the strap hooked and turned to Vanellope. She looked very surprised and just a little wary. Ralph felt a twinge of guilt. He crawled onto the bed and lay down next to her. He gestured to Vanellope to come closer. Vanellope didn't hesitated to roll over a bit and situate herself into his arms, Ralph was relieved to see.

"You're very annoying sometimes." Ralph said softly, after they were both comfortable. Vanellope gave an exaggerate pout and made a whiny noise. That clearly hadn't been what she wanted to hear. Ralph ignored her and rolled over so that Vanellope was on his chest again.

"What are you doing?" Vanellope asked softly. They were nearly face to face, but she was almost too curious to kiss him. Ralph kissed her lightly before saying anything.

"I want you to _behave_," Ralph said. "And tell me if I do anything you don't like."

Vanellope blinked in confusion and was about to tell him that that wasn't an answer. The sensation of one of Ralph's hands finding it's way to the sensitive area between her legs stopped her.

"_Oh..._" Vanellope thought as she gasped. Sometimes Ralph could have some _very_ good ideas.

* * *

**A/N:** You all had a lot of opinions on how to handle this... I was going to cut it off probably somewhere in the middle and actually write something explicit. But as I was writing nothing particularly graphic, in my opinion anyway, ever came up. Soo... This is what you end up with. An extra long chapter. I might've cut some stuff out anyway but I decided a lot of what was in here was relevant to character development.  
If you think this chapter requires me to up the rating will you let me know please? And yes, this is part one. That means there will be a part two of this.

Review Response:

None, there were like 40 of you and I'm still too sick to get my thoughts organized into what I'd want to say. So anyway, I will leave you with this.  
you-just-got-burned. tumblr. com (slash)post /38781917148  
It's a fanart of Ralph and Vanellope that **Punk Rock Girl 101** made for me. ^_^


	29. Chapter 28: Come To Bed, Part 2

**A/N: **Mmmm, and we're back into PG-13 territory.I feel so safe.

* * *

**Chapter 28: Come to Bed, Part 2**

Vanellope sighed with pleasure. Her face was buried in Ralph's chest as he stroked his fingertips up and down her back. Each stroke caused pleasant shivers to course through her. She rubbed her forehead into his chest a little bit and then angled her head to look up at him, a sheepish grin on her face. Ralph had a look on his face that was carefully _not_ smug, but it looked like he was struggling with it. Vanellope giggled.

"Hmmm?" Ralph asked, causing Vanellope to giggle again. Vanellope slid herself up to meet Ralph, putting her hands on his shoulders as leverage. She kissed him softly and then buried her face in his neck.

"Thank you." She whispered. Ralph shivered a bit at her breath on his neck.

They stayed like this for a very long time. Vanellope's head was spinning with what Ralph had just done to her. Cataloging the feel of his hands as they'd touched her, and the look on his face when her eyes had been focused enough to see it. She was wide awake as she replayed it over and over in her head. Ralph on the other hand...

Ralph was trying valiantly to stay awake. He'd been tired before all of this started, now he was just exhausted. He had a sneaking suspicion that falling asleep was probably going to ruin the moment for Vanellope, but he didn't see any way to avoid it. He was nearly trembling with exhaustion and built up tension, but Vanellope didn't seem to either mind or notice.

"Ralph?" Vanellope asked. Ralph's eyes snapped open and refocused.

"Hmm?" He mumbled in an attempt to acknowledge she had his attention.

"I just realized that you didn't..." Vanellope paused for a moment. "I didn't... take care of you." She said. That woke Ralph up a little bit.

Ralph blinked and groaned as a stretch went through him. He really didn't want to have to explain this now. He was very tired.

"Yeah, I know." Ralph replied after a moment. He could see the gears turning in Vanellope's head as she tried to decode this. A gear skipped as she found something too confusing. She had more questions.

"You don't want me to?" Vanellope asked.

"No. I'm good." Ralph replied. He felt a bit of him protest at that. He was still very hard, but he was ignoring that. Vanellope wasn't. In the position she was in one of her legs was brushing up against the sensitive organ. Ralph was ignoring that too, being tired made that much _much_ easier than it would've been normally. She shifted her leg a bit to make sure of her findings. Ralph shuddered as the sensation went through him.

"Are you sure?" Vanellope asked, teasing, as she observed his reaction.

"Yes I'm sure." Ralph answered quickly, scared she'd take any silence or hesitation on his part as an invitation to continue down this path. Vanellope frowned a little, clearly not expecting or understanding that answer.

Ralph knew that as soon as that expression came on her face there little moment was killed. He hadn't had to fall asleep to make that happen. He waited for Vanellope to ask another question, trying to puzzle this out, but she never did. She just lay there looking at him, her face filled with confusion and something else he couldn't place.

"You okay?" Ralph asked. His fatigued brain cursing him for attempting to start another conversation when it was so tired. Even this tired he knew this was probably something they'd need to address.

"Yeah, I just..." Vanellope started quickly. But the rest of the words seemed to escape her. "Why don't you want to?" She asked after a moment.

Ralph, as always, was at a loss on how to respond. Self introspection wasn't his strong suit, but he was fairly sure he'd pinned down a few good reasons why he was feeling so reluctant. The first one that sprang to mind was exhaustion, but he was sure that that wasn't the type of answer Vanellope was looking for. The biggest reason...

"You probably won't understand it.. but it's because I'm scared." Ralph answered. If he'd been more awake he might not have said that out loud, but there there it was. It was out in the open now.

"What are you scared of?" Vanellope asked softly, her voice wavering a little. This was the first time Ralph had ever said anything like that before. It made the bed seem like a secret, intimate, place all of a sudden.

"Losing control... Hurting you... Lots of things." Ralph answered.

"Oh Ralph, you don't have to be scared of that. You'd _never_ hurt me." Vanellope said with supreme confidence. She snuggled into his chest and put her arms around him as best as she could.

Ralph made a skeptical sound, but didn't reply. There was a long bit of silence where Vanellope just enjoyed the sound of Ralph's breathing under her ear. After a moment Ralph's breath evened out into a deep rumbling that she recognized. She angled her head up to confirm it. Ralph had fallen asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** No, I didn't write the bit in between the last chapter and this one. A lot of you seemed to want more high rated fun, but there's time enough for that later. Plus an equal amount of you seem to be uncomfortable with it. I had _plans_ to post it somewhere else, but I kept looking at it and thinking 'this is stuff I don't want to leave out of the main story'. So I feel like I can't distinctively draw a line for the... 'extra content'. And really, that's the kind of sex scene I'd want to write anyhow. It shouldn't just be gratuitous. I have the problem that I don't want to alienate anyone who is genuinely enjoying the story without the sexytime bits.  
In the future I think I'll bump up the rating for the fic (I don't think it requires it now) and post a warning before the chapter. Then I'll post a cliffnotes version in the author's notes or something.

**To those having trouble with the link:** ffnet took out the dot com, because it's very difficult to post anything with a dot on ffnet. After the tumblr and before the post there needs to be (slash). Try again. you-just-got-burned. tumblr. com (slash)post /38781917148

Review Response:

**jeh-nee** - I can't believe I posted on Christmas either. But there you have it. I'm glad you liked it, I personally thought it was all over the place. That's why I don't usually write long chapters. I hope you feel better too, mostly I'm just really really tired and achy.

**ifired** - *kills ifired* Stop using it! It's a stupid innuendo anyway and it doesn't make any sense.


	30. Chapter 29: Concerns

**A/N: **This is a weird chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 29: Concerns**

Meanwhile, back at Fix-It Felix Jr...

Tamora sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and started dismantling her armor. She started with her feet and worked her way up. This was one of Felix's favorite parts of the day. Tamora didn't let her guard down very often, but she did before they bedded down for the night. She insisted that she couldn't rest well if she thought she needed to be on guard all the time. It's why they slept at his place and not anywhere in Hero's Duty, even though she still had a programed in apartment there.

Tamora was just gorgeous when she wasn't on high alert, Felix noted. Her face was relaxed into a smile, a small one but it was there. He watched with supreme interest as the rest of her armor came off, leaving her in a white cotton camisole and shorts. Felix sighed happily catching Tamora's attention. She beckoned him over. Felix liked _this _part too.

Felix hadn't gotten undressed yet. Tamora liked to do that part. Felix went over and suppressed the urge to giggle as Tamora started her work. She took off his hat, then proceeded to unbutton his shirt.

"I'm worried about Ralph." Tamora said as she started to pull his shirt out of his pants.

"_Oh right..._" Felix thought. Tamora didn't often think of this as a sexual act. It was just something she liked to do. She liked to take care of him in small peculiar ways like this. She liked to be in control of everything.

"Why are you worried about Ralph?" Felix asked.

"He's probably going to do something stupid again." Tamora said with a frown as she pulled his gloves off.

"But he's doing so well now." Felix protested. Felix worried a lot about Ralph sometimes. It had a lot to do with how guilty he felt about how Ralph used to be treated, he supposed. It never sat right with him that he'd just let that happen. He tried to look out for Ralph nowadays, but it wasn't always easy.

"I know it's just..." Tamora stopped to think as she put him on the bed to take off his boots. "I think mentioning that there's been gossip was a bad tactical decision." Tamora said.

Felix mulled that over as Tamora pulled him off the bed and started taking off his belts. He watched as Tamora pulled off his work belt and gingerly hung it up on it's hook.

"I didn't mean anything by it..." Felix folded his arms and put a hand on his chin. "Though now that you mention it he did seem to have an upsetting reaction to the news."

"Ralph isn't the most secure fellow I've met. He tries too hard to make sure no one sees him as 'bad'. If he finds out that people think there are negative connotations to his relationship with Vanellope..." Tamora let Felix pick it up from there as she removed his jeans. Felix hopped onto the bed at that.

" Then he'll probably do something stupid." Felix finished in a dejected tone. "Like try to break up with her."

"And their relationship isn't solid enough to make it through something like that just yet." Tamora predicted.

"We can't let that happen." Felix said, biting at his thumbnail, worrying it off with his teeth. Tamora sat beside him and pushed his hand away from his mouth.

"As long as he doesn't ask any questions then things will probably be just fine." Tamora reasoned. "It's not like the entire arcade is against them. As long as nothing strange happens then nothing will change." Felix sighed and looked up at her with a hesitant smile.

"Oh, I'm sure you're right." Felix said, feeling much less worried. Tamora was usually right about this sort of thing.

Felix frowned a little as he thought about it. She wouldn't have brought it up if it hadn't been bothering her. She'd probably seen something he'd missed. She was good with little details about that. They got into bed and under the covers as he tried to put it out of his mind. Tamora fluffed the pillows and laid back and Felix snuggled into her side with a content sigh.

Everything was silence for a minute, then it hit him. Felix sat up with a start.

"Ralph is sleeping over at Sugar Rush!" Felix nearly howled. "Someone's _bound_ to notice."

"Not if he doesn't do anything stupid." Tamora reminded him. Felix didn't look convinced.

Ralph wasn't one to make a spectacle of himself... If he could just cross Game Central Station tomorrow morning without incident then it would be fine. He could count on Ralph to do _that_.

* * *

**A/N:** This was short, but it accomplished what I meant to accomplish. Yeah, I'm a... what do they call it... Hero Cuties? Yeah, I'm definitely a Hero Cuties fan. Felix/Calhoun is just an adorable couple all around. I feel like I made them really weird in this chapter. I needed them to be doing something, and this took place in bed, sort of, because it was supposed to be part of the 'come to bed' chapter. Anyway, I just needed them to be doing something and I can picture Calhoun wanting to undress Felix. I dunno. Maybe that's just me.

Review Response:

**Blak-Ice** - No, it's not going to deter Vanellope at all.

**jeh-nee** - I'm curious as to where you thought it was gonna go. I put in a couple of notes about how they weren't going to go all the way, but that does leave a lot of leeway... And i LIKE writing and updating. It's fun. Also I have to get as much of the story out as I can before my mind goes somewhere else. It's trying to drift away as we speak actually. I've been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory and Psych recently. They're trying to pull me in.

**DaddlerTheDalek** - Yes, yes he was.


	31. Chapter 30: Wake up Call

**Author's Notes:** Geez, THIS was a long time in the coming...

* * *

Chapter 30: Wake up Call

Ralph groaned a little bit and shifted as a stretch coursed through him. He was waking up. He groaned again at that, sounding a little more annoyed. He hated waking up. He shifted a little more and noticed something next to him. One of his arms was draped over it. His groggy brain only had the power to register that it was soft. He wrapped his arm around it a little tighter to identify it. It yelped.

"Ralph!" Vanellope complained. Ralph jerked and sat up. Vanellope was pulled up along with him, since his arms were still around her. She slapped her hands on his arm in an attempt to get loose. She was at a funny angle and he was squeezing her ribs rather tight. Ralph let go suddenly, Vanellope flopped back down on the bed.

"Oof!" Vanellope said as she his the mattress. It was quiet while Ralph tried to wake up and Vanellope digested what had happened.

"I can sense that sleeping with you is going to be dangerous." Vanellope said dryly, muffled by the mattress. She pushed herself up and into a sitting position. She yawned and scratched her head a little before looking at Ralph. Ralph was sitting a little slumped over, all squinty-eyed and generally sleepy looking. Vanellope snickered.

"Mmm... sorry." Ralph said. It took Vanellope a moment to realize what he was talking about.

"Your brain really _does_ work slow in the mornings, doesn't it?" Vanellope asked. Ralph made a noise that sounded like he agreed.

Ralph scrubbed at his face and then yawned loudly as his arms reached out into a large stretch. Vanellope smiled with satisfaction as she watched the muscles in his back flex and contract. She put her hands on his back to feel the bunched and tensed muscles. Ralph paused, one hand behind his head and the other up in the air.

"What are you doing?" Ralph asked mid yawn.

"You have a _back_ too." Vanellope said, like that answered the question. The events of the party came came back to Ralph in a blur, then the answer made sense.

"It's too early for that." Ralph complained. He brought his arms down, finishing the stretch. He could feel Vanellope's hands move to follow the movement. Vanellope sighed.

"Yeah, I guess your right. It's probably almost time for the arcade to open anyhow." Vanellope agreed reluctantly.

"What?!" Ralph asked, suddenly very awake.

"Naaah, don't worry. I'm sure we've got time. There's an alarm that goes off as a warning." Vanellope said, trying to calm Ralph down. She climbed into Ralph's lap. Ralph took a couple of deep breaths to slow his heart down.

"Don't do that." Ralph scolded. Vanellope gagged dramatically and fell backwards. Ralph just looked at her as she played dead.

"Talk about some deadly morning breath." Vanellope commented. Ralph just rolled his eyes.

"Is that so?" Ralph asked. Vanellope nodded emphatically. Ralph eyed Vanellope appreciatively. She was still sitting on his lap, sort of, but her head and shoulders were on the bed. He felt like he could now admit he really liked the view. He picked her up behind the shoulders and trapped her against him in a tight embrace.

"Ack! Leggo!" Vanellope complained, trying to wiggle free. She wasn't trying very hard.

"No." Ralph said with a grin.

Ralph kissed her. She pressed her lips together with a giggle. Ralph, undeterred, kissed his way down to her neck. Vanellope gasped as her head went back to give him more room. Before things could go too far down that track a bell rang through the air. Ralph looked up at that.

"It's the alarm." Vanellope said as she caught her breath.

"How much time?" Ralph asked.

"Oh... about 15 minutes?" Vanellope answered. Ralph scrambled off the bed at that, dumping Vanellope off his lap.

"Geez! I gotta go!" Ralph hollered "I'm gonna be late!"

Vanellope rolled over and pushed herself into an upright position as Ralph bolted out the door.

"Your shirt!" Vanellope shouted. She held up two large scraps of plaid flannel.

"Err... well..." She examined what she was holding. "Maybe not."

+++[Fix-It Felix]+++

The Nicelanders were milling around in front of the building, looking anxiously at the clock on the arcade wall. Ralph was usually around by this time, going through the demo screen with Felix. It was 3 minutes until the Arcade officially opened. Mr. Litwak was already milling about and dusting screens and such.

Suddenly the sound of the cart coming down the tracks echoed through the empty air of Fix-It Felix. A sigh of relief went through the crowd as a few people rushed to greet Ralph.

"Oh my!" Mary gasped as Ralph stood up.

"What are... oh my land!" Felix commented. "Ralph, did you walk through Game Central looking like that?!" Felix asked. Ralph didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

"Your shirt?" Felix asked. Ralph looked down at himself and noticed the article of clothing he was lacking.

"Ummm..." Ralph had to think about it for a moment. "Oh right. I ripped it."

"Didn't I fix it before I left?" Felix asked.

"I... ripped it again." Ralph answered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Oh my." Mary said again, looking a bit hypnotized. Don pulled her away and back towards the building.

Felix sighed and rubbed his face with one hand.

Ralph wasn't so sure why Felix thought this was a problem. Admittedly he wasn't what he thought of as 'fully dressed', but it wasn't as if being shirtless was the most terrible thing in the world. It didn't even make him the most revealingly dressed person in the arcade either. Just look at Zangeif for cryin' out loud!

An old fashioned alarm clock rang, startling the group.

"The arcade is opening! Places everyone!" Gene hollered from inside the building.

"What about your shirt?" Felix asked Ralph suddenly.

"Everything resets when a games starts, it'll be fine." Ralph dismissed.

"Oh... right." Felix said. He knew that. He was just worried. "Umm... Ralph?"

"Yeah Felix?" Ralph asked as they headed to the other side of the building.

"No on saw you coming out of Sugar Rush like that did they?" Felix asked, not quite hiding the worry in his voice.

"Well, it was 10 minutes til opening. Game Central Station was pretty deserted." Ralph answered.

Felix let out a sigh of relief.

"But I did see Sonic." Ralph commented. "He paused and gave me a wave before going on his way." Felix slapped his forehead.

"_Oh no..._" Felix thought with a groan.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Phew. I'm sorry this took so long to get out guys. I just got so busy IRL while my computer was gone. I'm in a play in my community theatre and that takes up a lot of attention, even though I only have a little part. "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". Which is why I started that Charlie Brown fic that those of you who have my on author alerts noticed. But nevermind that.  
So... I actually had another idea for a Wreck-It Ralph fanfic, and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in it. "Sugar Rush: Story Mode". Specifically a tie-in with this, because it would be about the NEW story mode after the upgrade. Featuring NPCs and the new racers I haven't done anything with... and stuff like that. I only have a few ideas for it but... tell me what you think?

**Review Response:**

I just... I've not a lot to say. Thank you guys for waiting for me to get it together. Also, OMG, two of my favorite WIR writers are now reading this story. Hi guys! OMG! If you guys haven't read **MotorcycleChickenSmile**'s "Love Bug" or **Mother Mnemosyne**'s "Even if it's Wrong" then go do so like... NOW! Those are most definitely my two favorite stories in the WIR fandom.


	32. Chapter 31: The Worrier

**Author's Note:** This chapter is sort of boring. But let's delve into Felix's head anyway, since he actually knows what's going on.

* * *

Chapter 31: The Worrier

Felix was concerned. Not the regular sort of concerned, like whether or not he forgot to turn something off in his apartment concerned, either. This sort of concern was the type that didn't _quite_ give you a stomach ache, but it made your whole system sort of tense, and when your stomach was tense then food didn't sit quite right. It didn't matter what the programers thought, an apple pie that didn't sit right was NOT a good power up. Especially since he tended to move so fast after devouring them. He was getting sort of nauseous.

Felix spent the work day in a sort of worried haze. What Ralph had said before the day had started was weighing on him. Ralph, he noticed, didn't seem particularly worried. He'd seemed pretty happy from when he'd walked in actually. Felix leaned over to the side and hit the palm of his hand against the side of his head, shaking out the unbidden images of what Ralph and Vanellope could've been doing all night to make Ralph's mood so unshakable.

Perhaps it was that he didn't have all the facts. Ralph was still savoring the 'new relationship' feeling. Felix really didn't want to burst that bubble, especially since he didn't know for certain that it needed to be burst. But still...

"_The only thing faster than Sonic's feet... is his mouth._" Felix thought miserably. The blue hedgehog was a notorious gossip. About everything. It was, Felix supposed, one of the reasons people liked him so well. Definitely the hub of the social scene in the arcade. Felix wouldn't be surprised if everyone already knew Sonic had seen Ralph that morning. Sonic wasn't one to infer things or spread rumors though, so he wouldn't perpetuate the rumors that were starting to fly... he'd let everyone else do that.

The rumors... The ones Tammy had advised him not to tell Ralph, the ones that Ralph didn't want to hear anyway. That's what was truly bothering Felix. More than it should perhaps. He'd been so certain that they would just blow over, that they weren't worth thinking much about. But after what Tammy had said, he wasn't so sure.

The problem was, the whole arcade didn't know Ralph as well as the games in the immediate area did. Those who didn't... At first they took Ralph and Vanellope's behavior in stride. Everyone had assumed they were dating, even Ralph's closest friends. That part was okay. But then... it wasn't just Ralph who had noticed the similarities between how the two of them behaved now and how they had behaved when Vanellope was just a little girl. That's when the rumors had started to fly.

Just speculation to begin with. Among the more vicious character who couldn't see past the 'bad guy' job of other characters in their own games, let alone any other game. Then it spread to those who either didn't know about the events in sugar rush during Ralph's game hopping adventure, or didn't care, or even some who didn't seem to know all the details of the event and seemed to think that Ralph qualified as a new Turbo and was the worst sort of person in the world.

Those last sort were the worst. Not only did they fully believe that Ralph and Vanellope had been in some sort of intimate romantic relationship before, but they tended to go even further and assume that Ralph tended to portray himself as some sort of Lord of all Sugar Rush and used all of the young racers for his peculiar fantasies. Fortunately those sort were somewhat few and far between.

Felix couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty about this. He and Tammy had seen the crush that Vanellope had on Ralph, and just how much Ralph cared about Vanellope... Not to mention his telling reaction to her older body. Maybe he'd been a little blinded by his own successful romance, he shouldn't have just assumed a romantic relationship was the way for Ralph and Vanellope to press forward. Had he pushed the two a little too fast? Would it had made any difference? Ralph and Vanellope had seemed determined to continue on the way they always had, and that was what everyone was going off of. None of the rumor starters seemed particularly interested in what might _actually_ be going on.

Felix looked up from his musing. The all-clear sounded, letting everyone know that the arcade was closed. He sighed with relief. The day had seemed really long. Felix peeked over the side of the building and saw Ralph picking himself up out of the mud.

"_Should I say something to him?_" Felix wondered. After a long moment of contemplation he decided not to. Not yet. Ralph didn't want to know, and there didn't seem to be any harm in his ignorance. Not yet anyway. If Ralph asked, or if something happened, then Felix would tell him. But not before. He wondered if he'd have to wait very long?

* * *

**Author's Note:** If you're worried that the story is going to get too serious... I wouldn't. But I feel like I have to address this little point because it was supposed to be a BIG DEAL to Ralph earlier... and then it wasn't. So. DRAMA!

Review Response:

**Silverspetz** - I'm so glad you forgive me. I really should get back to work on my Stargate Avatar thingy. But it's a lot harder to write than this is.

**jeh-nee** - "I gotta admit I was confused..." Ah, fanfic readers have such short attention spans. Then again, who am I to complain?

**WhatNames** - I love all of your reviews. They're so entertaining. xD You didn't really say anything that needed responding to, I just had to say that.


	33. Chapter 32: Mood Killer

**Author's Notes:** Augh. Sometimes it's just so hard to write y'know? I'm sure you know.

* * *

Chapter 32: Mood Killer

Ralph could tell that Felix was off his game. That bothered him just a little. He couldn't help but think it was probably his fault somehow. Narrowly missing being late probably set Felix's teeth on edge just a bit. He also seemed to have a problem with how Ralph had arrived, but Ralph wasn't sure exactly what it was. While all of this concerned Ralph just a little, he was having a really hard time caring about any of it just at the moment. The parts of his mind that wasn't occupied with smashing the building was focusing mostly on last night.

What had happened last night... What might've happened if he'd let it. He couldn't have gotten it out of his head even if he'd actually wanted to. His mind kept going over the possibilities. As always his thoughts were thoroughly divided. Part of him was eagerly anticipating the chance to do it again, and even take it a bit further next time. The idea that it would, and the idea that Vanellope clearly wanted it to, just seemed so amazing to him. But another part of him was second guessing whether or not he'd done the right thing. Whether or not he really should have just stopped at her door and left it at that. Was he moving too fast?

Certain that he was destined to feel forever conflicted about everything, Ralph's thought process went around in circles all day. By the time closing time came around he wasn't any closer to feeling resolved about anything, but the sense of giddy anticipation hadn't worn off either. He was, dare he even think it, feeling pretty happy actually.

Which was another reason not to think about whatever was dragging Felix down. Ralph felt like he was probably due some uncomplicated happiness. He knew he should trouble himself with Felix's problems, it's what a good friend would do, but he was feeling just selfish enough that he wanted to put it off just a little bit longer.

When the arcade closed and work cut out Ralph found he didn't actually feel like taking a nap. Maybe he was feeling a little hyped up, maybe it was just that Vanellope's bed had given him a really good night's sleep... or maybe he just wanted to avoid Felix. Most likely a combination of all three compelled him to want to go visit Sugar Rush instead of taking his usual nap. Not to mention, of course, the overwhelming desire to see Vanellope.

Ralph wiped himself off and tried to casually make a bee-line for the exit, but to no avail. His large frame didn't really allow for sneaking.

"Ralph, can I talk to you for just a minute?" He heard Felix ask from behind him. He'd only made it about halfway to the tracks, so he couldn't really make it out like he hadn't heard him and just go the rest of the way. Ralph turned, somewhat wary of what the topic might be.

"Yeah Felix?" Ralph asked. Felix's face was set in a look of determination. Like whatever he was about to say wasn't something he really wanted to talk about either.

"I know you're off to Sugar Rush, and that's fine. I don't want to keep you long so..." Felix started, hesitating to get to the point. Ralph sighed, resolving that he'd have to take care of this now.

"Something's been bugging you all day Felix. What's the matter?" Ralph asked.

Felix opened his mouth to quickly blurt out all his concerns, but he held himself back. He'd resolved not to dump this on Ralph just yet, but... Well, Ralph HAD asked, sort of.

"I'm just a little concerned." Felix said after a moment's thought. "How you came in today... and you said that Sonic saw you..."

"Yeah." Ralph acknowledged.

"Well... you know what an awful gossip he is." Felix said, his voice starting to speed up. "I don't know what actually happened between you and Vanellope last night, and I would never try to guess. But it certainly looked like... And Ralph, I really didn't want to tell you think but there have some... some _unsavory_ rumors about you and Vanellope going about that might be... exacerbated if Sonic's gotten around already." Felix's voice had tapered off a little bit at that. Ralph's expression had gone from somewhat pleasantly concerned to a full on frown.

"What?" Ralph asked.

"Ooohh... Fiddlesticks." Felix took off his hat and wrung it in his hands. "I didn't mean to say nearly so much. I just... I thought I'd warn you that you might get some dirty looks crossing the Station..."

Ralph vaguely recalled Felix mentioning something about rumors during the clean up at Sugar Rush last night, now that it had been brought to mind. He hadn't thought a lot of it as the time, especially since Felix hadn't seemed too bothered by it. It had bugged him a little, but he'd been otherwise distracted since then. But now... Felix's frustrated and worried expression was getting the better of him and worry was starting to build in his chest.

"_I just knew that this was going to be something that was going to ruin my day..._" Ralph thought miserably.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up is all." Felix said. "I don't want you to worry about it, or change what you're doing at all. I just want you to ignore it. Maybe it would just be best if you forget I said anything. I didn't even mention it. Right?" Felix asked, a painfully forced grin on his face.

"Felix... why?" Ralph asked, scrubbing his face with his hands.

"...Sorry?" Felix answered.

+++[Sugar Rush]+++

As Vanellope was relaxing by the track, relishing in the short break she allowed herself and everyone between closing and the roster race, she shuddered violently and wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

"You okay Vanellope?" Candlehead asked.

"Yeah..." Vanellope answered. "I just got a really weird chill down my back for a second. It's gone now." She explained.

"Oooo... Bad omen." Jubileena said ominously with a giggle at the end. Taffyta rolled her eyes.

"You're probably just drinking that milkshake too fast." Taffyta reasoned.

Vanellope gave her strawberry milkshake a suspicious look, like it had offended her in some way. She wiggled around uncomfortably for a moment, trying to shake off the peculiar feeling the shiver had left her with. She hoped it wasn't really a bad omen... But then again, why would it be?

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I really had to just force this chapter out. Sorry about that. Not really feeling up to snuff in the whole creative department at the moment. But this chapter was sort of guilted out of me. Why you ask? The Upgrade has just reached 200 followers. So yeah... way to put the pressure on guys.  
Also, sorry for not a whole lot of plot advancement going on in this chapter. I had to figure out just how I was going to do things, so this was more of a 'feeling out the situation' type of chapter than anything else. I feel like I'm back on track now though.

**Review Response:**

General review topics were about the "Lord of all Sugar Rush" thing... yeah, I laughed at it too. I was worried it was a little over the top, but it worked out pretty well in my opinion. And then there was how Sonic was a gossip. Well, if his FEET are fast then just imagine how fast his lips must be. Just sayin'...

**Makokam** - Thank you for taking the time to review so many of the chapters. I'd take the time to reply to every one, but that would take a lot of time and space. Some of them were really funny, and I hope the questions you had in the earlier chapters got answered by the later ones for the most part.

**jeh-nee** - Get prepared for drama. It's coming sooooooon. But shhh, don't tell anyone else. Seriously, I wonder about your predictive abilities sometimes. You've hit a few things right on the nose in the past. So keep your speculation to yourself. xD


	34. Chapter 33: Crisis Averted?

**Author's Note:** AAAAAAAUGH~!... I'm tired.

* * *

Chapter 33: Crisis Averted?

If Vanellope had been asked to list all the things she'd been expecting to find when she walked into Ralph's little hut that evening, this wouldn't have even made the top 50. Depending on how much time she'd be given to think about it it might not even have made the top 100. But life is full of surprises, and not all of them are bad so she was going to remain optimistic.

The fact that Ralph and Felix and Tammy were all milling around and looking somber and discussing... something in a slightly cryptic fashion might not be a bad thing, right? Maybe she just didn't want anything to kill the good mood she'd been in since waking up beside Ralph that morning.

She wasn't really worried until she actually walked in the door and they all turned to her suddenly. The way their faces turned from looks of worry to looks of intense contemplation almost made her jump.

"What? I didn't do it! It was three other guys!" She exclaimed. The eyebrow Ralph raised at her made her chuckle nervously. "Umm... nevermind."

There was a moment of silence after that before Felix finally spoke up.

"Hi there Vanellope." Felix offered.

"Hey there Felix..." Vanellope replied. She looked over him and spotted Calhoun, who was no longer looking at her. Calhoun's attention was focused on Ralph. Vanellope couldn't be entirely sure, but that _seemed_ like a very bad sign.

"So... what's going on guys? What's with the faces?" Vanellope finally asked. There was a sharp intake of breath as they all prepared to answer, then a sigh as they realized they didn't know what to say.

Vanellope frowned, now there was definitive proof that something was wrong. What should she do? She tried to puzzle some of it out in her head.

Something was wrong. Something important and possibly urgent, or else Ralph would be sleeping. Tammy and Felix had come over to Ralph's place, so Ralph hadn't went to them for advice or anything... Maybe they were forcing him to talk even? If that was even possible for anyone other than her. They had all stopped the conversation when she had walked in, so it was probably about her. And Tammy was leveling that look at Ralph that clearly said 'I just know you're gonna do something stupid'...

Vanellope experienced a moment of clarity and terror where she was more than certain of what was happening here. Ralph was going to break up with her. She didn't know why, or what could have possibly made him think it was a good idea, but she just knew.

Vanellope swallowed her first reaction and, rather than screaming about the unfairness of it all and how she was quite sure he couldn't make this decision without her, she walked over to where Ralph was sitting on the bed and unabashedly sat in his lap.

This motion seemed to take Ralph by surprise. He squirmed a little and let out a sigh that sounded somewhat annoyed, but in the end he wrapped his arms around Vanellope without argument.

"What were you guys talking about?" Vanellope asked, craning her neck to look at Ralph.

"Vanellope..." Ralph hesitated. "When you came over here did anyone give you any funny looks or anything strange like that?" He asked.

Vanellope didn't know where this was going, but she thought about it. She usually got _some_ funny looks, since people didn't often take their own vehicles through the wires, but she didn't think that was what Ralph meant. She tried to think of any particularly odd happenings in Game Central Station, but nothing came to mind.

"No more than usual." She answered. Ralph nodded.

"Then nevermind what we've been talking about. It doesn't matter." Ralph concluded.

"Ralph.." Felix said in exasperation.

"What? Isn't that exactly what you were saying earlier?" Ralph protested.

"Not because it doesn't effect Vanellope!" Felix protested.

"Why is that reason worse than yours?" Ralph asked.

Felix smacked his palms against his forehead and almost shook with silent frustration.

Vanellope couldn't possibly decode this.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Vanellope asked Ralph finally, when all the pieces she'd put together had finally stopped making sense.

"What? No." Ralph answered quickly. "Where'd you get that idea?"

Vanellope looked away and shrugged with all the nonchalance of a bad thief who has somehow made it out of the bank vault undetected. She couldn't see the look Ralph was giving her, but she felt it burrowing into the back of her head.

Vanellope, searching for something else to think about, accidentally caught Calhoun's eye. Calhoun was frowning, not exactly at her, but in her and Ralph's general direction. Vanellope looked down at the floor instead of trying to figure that out.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Ever just have your brain get... so crammed full of things like... stories and characters and things and plotlines and information that it just ceases to function for a while?... No? Is that just me? Well, anyway, that's what happened to me. Any new data and something in my head was going to kill itself. So rather than risking it I thought maybe I just wouldn't make any new content for anything for a little bit. I feel a little better now, though I admit writing this gave me a big headache... So that's why it's short.

Anyway... Welcome new reviewers! There were a lot of you, and some of you actually went and reviewed just about every chapter. ^_^ Those were fun to read.

**To random people thinking Vanellope is pregnant:** You fail this crash course in sex ed. Ralph and Vanellope haven't done anything that could possible get anyone pregnant. Not only that I'm not of the opinion any game character can get pregnant, due to being all made of electricity and code and stuff. It's not a something that happens in their world, that is not how new game characters are born.  
Seriously, I don't know how this became an idea...


End file.
